Working Paper: NBER ID: w23013
Authors: Leonardo Bursztyn; Robert Jensen
Abstract: Many people care about how they are perceived by those around them. A number of recent field experiments in economics have found that such social image concerns can have powerful effects on a range of behaviors. In this paper, we first review this recent literature aimed at identifying social image concerns or social pressure. We then highlight and discuss two important areas that have been comparatively less well-explored in this literature: understanding social pressure, including the underlying mechanisms, and whether such pressure can be shaped or influenced.
Keywords: social image; economic behavior; social pressure; field experiments
JEL Codes: D1; I31; Z13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| social image concerns (Z13) | behaviors (C92) |
| public visibility of voting (D72) | voting turnout (K16) |
| private voting (D72) | voting turnout (K16) |
| social image concerns (Z13) | decision-making (D70) |
| social image (P27) | undesirable outcomes (I12) |
| social pressure (C92) | behavior (C92) |
| social image concerns (Z13) | costs incurred (M41) |