At the Root of the North–South Cooperation Gap in Italy: Preferences or Beliefs?

Maria Bigoni, Stefania Bortolotti, Marco Casari and Diego Gambetta

The Economic Journal, 2019, vol. 129, issue 619, 1139-1152

Abstract: The sharp gap in development between the North and the South of Italy represents a paradigmatic case of persistent within-country disparities. The evidence suggests that this gap could depend on a difference in the ability to cooperate. We investigate experimentally three possible sources of this difference, and find that Northerners and Southerners share the same pro-social preferences, but differ both in their belief about cooperativeness and in the aversion to social risk, respectively, more pessimistic and stronger among Southerners; intervention or events that reduced pessimistic beliefs should directly boost cooperation.

Date: 2019
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Working Paper: At the root of the North-South cooperation gap in Italy: Preferences or beliefs? (2017)
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