Arbeitspapier
Cooperation Hidden Frontiers: The Behavioral Foundations of the Italian North-South Divide
Socio-economic performance differs not only across countries but within countries too and can persist even after religion, language, and formal institutions are long shared. One interpretation of these disparities is that successful regions are characterized by higher levels of trust, and, more generally, of cooperation. Here we study a classic case of within-country disparities, the Italian North-South divide, to find out whether people exhibit geographically distinct abilities to cooperate independently of many other factors and whence these differences emerge. Through an experiment in four Italian cities, we study the behavior of a sample of the general population toward trust and contributions to the common good. We find that trust and contributions vary in unison, and diminish moving from North to South. This regional gap cannot be attributed to payoffs from cooperation or to institutions, formal or informal, that may vary across Italy, as the experimental methodology silences their impact. The gap is also independent of risk and other-regarding preferences which we measure experimentally, suggesting that the lower ability to cooperate we find in the South is not due to individual \moral" flaws. The gap could originate from emergent collective properties, such as different social norms and the expectations they engender. The absence of convergence in behavior during the last 150 years, since Italy was unified, further suggests that these norms can persist overtime. Using a millennium-long dataset, we explore whether the quality of past political institutions and the frequency of wars could explain the emergence of these differences in norms.
- Sprache
-
Englisch
- Erschienen in
-
Series: Quaderni - Working Paper DSE ; No. 882
- Klassifikation
-
Wirtschaft
Design of Experiments: General
- Ereignis
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (wer)
-
Bigoni, Maria
Bortolotti, Stefania
Casari, Marco
Gambetta, Diego
Pancotto, Francesca
- Ereignis
-
Veröffentlichung
- (wer)
-
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche (DSE)
- (wo)
-
Bologna
- (wann)
-
2013
- DOI
-
doi:10.6092/unibo/amsacta/3690
- Handle
- Letzte Aktualisierung
-
10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ
Datenpartner
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.
Objekttyp
- Arbeitspapier
Beteiligte
- Bigoni, Maria
- Bortolotti, Stefania
- Casari, Marco
- Gambetta, Diego
- Pancotto, Francesca
- Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche (DSE)
Entstanden
- 2013
Ähnliche Objekte (12)
The north-south divide, the euro and the world
The North-South Divide, the Euro and the World.
The North-South divide: Sources of divergence, policies for convergence
Is there a north-south divide in self-employment in England?
Life expectancy heterogeneity and pension fairness: An Italian North-South divide
Is there a north-south divide in self-employment in England?
The evolution of the UK North-South divide: Should we mind the gap?
The Hidden Divide: School Segregation of Teachers in the Netherlands
Education and Regional Job Creation by the Self-Employed: The English North-South Divide
Understanding non-equilibrium thermodynamics : foundations, applications, frontiers
The North-South divide in Europe: an economic anomaly or more of an existential question?
China and the G-21 : a new North-South divide in the WTO after Cancún?
The north-south divide, the euro and the world
The North-South Divide, the Euro and the World.
The North-South divide: Sources of divergence, policies for convergence
Is there a north-south divide in self-employment in England?
Life expectancy heterogeneity and pension fairness: An Italian North-South divide
Is there a north-south divide in self-employment in England?
The evolution of the UK North-South divide: Should we mind the gap?
The Hidden Divide: School Segregation of Teachers in the Netherlands
Education and Regional Job Creation by the Self-Employed: The English North-South Divide
Understanding non-equilibrium thermodynamics : foundations, applications, frontiers
The North-South divide in Europe: an economic anomaly or more of an existential question?
China and the G-21 : a new North-South divide in the WTO after Cancún?
The north-south divide, the euro and the world
The North-South Divide, the Euro and the World.
The North-South divide: Sources of divergence, policies for convergence
Is there a north-south divide in self-employment in England?
Life expectancy heterogeneity and pension fairness: An Italian North-South divide
Is there a north-south divide in self-employment in England?
The evolution of the UK North-South divide: Should we mind the gap?
The Hidden Divide: School Segregation of Teachers in the Netherlands
Education and Regional Job Creation by the Self-Employed: The English North-South Divide
Understanding non-equilibrium thermodynamics : foundations, applications, frontiers
The North-South divide in Europe: an economic anomaly or more of an existential question?