The Influence Premium of Monetary Status
41 Pages Posted: 22 Jul 2021
Date Written: July 13, 2021
Abstract
The transmission of adaptively valuable behaviours requires individuals who are more likely to possess them to have greater influence over others’ actions. The conferment of high status to the fittest is functional to this objective. We ask to what extent status recognition and the attribution of status privileges are hard wired in humans’ psychology, in a world in which status imperfectly signals underlying cognitive ability due to the accumulation and transmission of status sources. We find that randomly assigned high status grants individuals greater influence over others’ actions than randomly assigned low status. This finding does not emerge however when the advisor’s status is linked to their cognitive ability.
Keywords: C91, D02, D31
JEL Classification: Inequality, status, social influence, ability
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation