Social Assets, Second Version

38 Pages Posted: 7 Jun 2004

See all articles by George J. Mailath

George J. Mailath

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; Research School of Economics, ANU

Andrew Postlewaite

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics

Date Written: June 4, 2004

Abstract

We present a model incorporating both social and economic components, and analyze their interaction. The notion of a social asset, an attribute that has value only because of the social institutions governing society, is introduced. In the basic model, agents match on the basis of income and unproductive attributes. An attribute has value in some equilibrium social institutions (matching patterns), but not in others. We then show that productive attributes (such as education) can have their value increased above their inherent productive value by some social institutions, leading to the notion of the social value of an asset.

Note: A previous version of this paper can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=305891

Keywords: Social assets, social capital, social arrangements, nonmarket interactions, social norms

JEL Classification: D20, D31, D5, J41, Z13

Suggested Citation

Mailath, George J. and Postlewaite, Andrew, Social Assets, Second Version (June 4, 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=555769 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.555769

George J. Mailath (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics ( email )

Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science
133 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297
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HOME PAGE: http://web.sas.upenn.edu/gmailath/

Research School of Economics, ANU ( email )

HW Arndt Building
College of Business and Economics
Canberra, ACT 2601
Australia

Andrew Postlewaite

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics ( email )

Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science
133 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297
United States
215-898-7350 (Phone)
215-573-2057 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.econ.upenn.edu/~apostlew