Working Paper: NBER ID: w30157
Authors: Alexander W. Cappelen; Benjamin Enke; Bertil Tungodden
Abstract: This paper presents novel stylized facts about the global variation in universalism, leveraging nationally representative surveys across 60 countries (N=64,000). We find large variation in universalism within and across countries, which almost entirely reflects heterogeneity in people’s moral views regarding how to treat different types of relationships. Universalism is strongly predictive of political views, civic engagement, and the radius of trust, and varies with the economic, political and religious organization of societies. We provide tentative evidence that experience with democracy makes people more universalist. Overall, our results suggests that moral universalism shapes and is shaped by politico-economic outcomes across the globe.
Keywords: moral universalism; political views; social capital; democracy
JEL Codes: D01
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| universalism (F01) | political views (D72) |
| universalism (F01) | social capital (Z13) |
| experience with democracy (D72) | universalism (F01) |