Income, Wealth, and Socialization in Argentina: Provocative Responses from Individuals
Lederman focuses on two objectives in his study: (1) to establish a baseline measurement of the level and geographic distribution of social capital in Argentina, and (2) to identify its empirical determinants. The study's survey questionnaire...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, D.C.
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/04/1758951/income-wealth-socialization-argentina-provocative-responses-individuals http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14318 |
| Summary: | Lederman focuses on two objectives in his study:
(1) to establish a baseline measurement of the level and
geographic distribution of social capital in Argentina, and
(2) to identify its empirical determinants. The study's
survey questionnaire provides individual-level data on the
population's participation in social organizations and
willingness to trust members of its community. Probit models
are estimated to explain the individual's decision to
participate and to trust strangers, and individual-household
and community characteristics are used as explanatory
variables. Potential simultaneity and endogeneity problems
afflicting the empirical models are examined. The main
determinants of the probability of participation in
Argentina are age, age squared, household income (and
perhaps income squared), rural communities (perhaps due to
lower probabilities of migration among rural residents since
most migrants live in urban centers), community or
provincial unemployment rates, and individual trust. In
contrast, the main determinants of trust are age and age
squared (but with opposite signs to those exhibited by
probability of participation), household wealth (but not its
squared term nor household income), participation (as shown
by the Seemingly Unrelated Regressions Probit results on the
cross-correlation between the two social capital models),
and community or provincial unemployment rates and income
inequality. It is noteworthy that the common question on
trust used in the U.S. General Social Survey and in the
World Values Survey yields results whereby communities with
higher "trust" rates actually have lower social
participation rates. Finally, participation in organizations
with participatory leadership selection mechanisms are more
likely to produce interpersonal trust than other forms of participation. |
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