Reputation, Group Structure and Social Tensions

Dominic Rohner

No 40, HiCN Working Papers from Households in Conflict Network

Abstract: Social tensions impede social cohesion and public goods provision. They can also be a driving force for more serious conflicts such as civil wars. Surprisingly, however, the emergence of social tensions has only rarely been studied in the literature. In the present contribution a game-theoretic model highlights how reputation concerns and the structure of group cleavages matter for the emergence of social tensions. In particular, the respective effects of fractionalisation, polarisation and segregation are assessed. The predictions of the model can account for recent empirical evidence on ethnic conflicts. The framework can also be applied to the study of social capital and merger failures.

Keywords: Conflict; Information; Reputation; Ethnicity; Social Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C73 D74 L14 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2008-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gth and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Reputation, group structure and social tensions (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hic:wpaper:40

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