The Influence Premium of Monetary Status

41 Pages Posted: 22 Jul 2021

See all articles by Andrea FM Martinangeli

Andrea FM Martinangeli

Université Paris 2 Panthéon Assas

Biljana Meiske

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance; Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

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

Martinangeli, Andrea and Meiske, Biljana, The Influence Premium of Monetary Status (July 13, 2021). Working Paper of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance No. 2021-10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3885612 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3885612

Andrea Martinangeli

Université Paris 2 Panthéon Assas ( email )

Paris
France

Biljana Meiske (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance ( email )

Marstallplatz 1
Munich, 80539
Germany

Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich ( email )

Germany

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