Alberto Bisin
Biographic Data
| ID | 1055334 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alberto Bisin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alberto |
| FAMILY NAME | Bisin |
| SIGNATURE | BISIN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | New York University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5389-0524 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 227 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Economic Models of Cultural Transmission
Capital structure and hedging demand with incomplete markets
We develop a general equilibrium model with production and incomplete markets. Firms optimally design their capital structure to cater to investors’ hedging needs. Depending on the heterogeneity of such needs, equilibrium may feature either complete financial market segmentation or only partial segmentation. Firms respond to greater hedging needs by issuing more debt and allocating most of the proceeds to shareholders. How much more debt, depends…
Dynamic Choices with Social Interactions
We introduce the study of dynamic, forward-looking equilibrium choices in environments characterized by social interactions. Agents’ preferences capture inter-temporal links - such as, e.g., habits and addictions - as well as attitudes to conform to a social reference group. We characterise equilibrium behaviour as a system of linear non-stationary Markovian policy rules, for each individual and in each time period. We then derive conditions for …
Modeling adaptive forward-looking behavior in epidemics on networks
Modeling Social Behavior: Mathematical and Agent-Based Models of Social Dynamics and Cultural Evolution
Alberto Bisin of New York University reviews “Modeling Social Behavior: Mathematical and Agent-Based Models of Social Dynamics and Cultural Evolution” by Paul E. Smaldino. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores ways of thinking about and studying complex social systems using mathematical and computational models, focusing on relatively simple dynamic models to aid in the study of social organisms and what they do together.”
Advances in the Economic Theory of Cultural Transmission
In this article we survey recent advances in the economic theory of cultural transmission. We highlight three main themes on which the literature has made great progress in the last 10 years: the domain of traits subject to cultural transmission; the microfoundations for the technology of transmission; and feedback effects between culture, institutions, and various socioeconomic environments. We conclude by suggesting interesting areas for future…
Culture, institutions and the long divergence
On the Joint Evolution of Culture and Political Institutions: Elites and Civil Society
International audience
Advances in the Economic Theory of Cultural Transmission
JUE insight: Learning epidemiology by doing: The empirical implications of a Spatial-SIR model with behavioral responses
Heterogeneous Dynasties and Long-Run Mobility
Recent empirical work has demonstrated a positive correlation between grandparent-child wealth rank, even after controlling for parent-child wealth rank, and a positive correlation between dynastic wealth ranks across almost six hundred years. We show that a simple heterogeneous agents model with idiosyncratic wealth returns generates a realistic wealth distribution, but fails to capture these long-run patterns of wealth mobility. An auto-correla…
Culture, Institutions & the Long Divergence
Culture, Institutions & the Long Divergence
Culture, Institutions & the Long Divergence
Recent theories of the Long Divergence between Middle Eastern and Western European economies focus on Middle Eastern (over-)reliance on religious legitimacy, use of slave soldiers, and persistence of restrictive proscriptions of religious (Islamic) law. These theories take as exogenous the cultural values that complement the prevailing institutions. As a result, they miss the role of cultural values in either supporting the persistence of or indu…
Religious Legitimacy and the Joint Evolution of Culture and Institutions
Inequality, redistribution and cultural integration in the Welfare State
Coévolution entre institutions et culture: Une application au développement de long terme
Cet article propose un cadre formel permettant d’étudier la coévolution entre institutions et culture et leurs implications en terme de résultats socio-économiques. Le changement institutionnel est décrit comme un processus permettant de résoudre des problèmes fondamentaux de crédibilité politique entre groupes sociaux. L’évolution culturelle est modélisée comme un processus de transmission intergenerationnel au sein d’une dynamique de population…
Bend it like Beckham: Ethnic identity and integration
Trade and Cultural Diversity
Cultural Integration of Immigrants in Europe
The concepts of cultural diversity and cultural identity are at the forefront of the political debate in many western societies. In Europe, the discussion is stimulated by the political pressures associated with immigration flows, which are increasing in many European countries. The imperatives that current immigration trends impose on European democracies bring to light a number of issues that need to be addressed. What are the patterns and dyna…
Ethnic identity and labour market outcomes of immigrants in Europe: Immigrants and the Labour Market
We study the relationship between ethnic identity and labour market outcomes of non-EU immigrants in Europe. Using the European Social Survey, we find that there is a penalty to be paid for immigrants with a strong identity. Being a first generation immigrant leads to a penalty of about 17% while second-generation immigrants have a probability of being employed that is not statistically different from that of natives. However, when they have a st…
Formation and persistence of oppositional identities
Social Economics
The Economics of Cultural Transmission and Socialization
Cultural transmission arguably plays an important role in the determination of many fundamental preference traits (e.g., discounting, risk aversion and altruism) and most cultural traits, social norms, and ideological tenets ( e.g., attitudes towards family and fertility practices, and attitudes in the job market). It is, however, the pervasive evidence of the resilience of ethnic and religious traits across generations that motivates a large fra…
Bend It Like Beckham: Ethnic Identity and Integration
We propose a theoretical framework to study the determinants of ethnic and religious identity along two distinct motivational processes which have been proposed in the social sciences: cultural conformity and cultural distinction. Under cultural conformity, ethnic identity is reduced by neighborhood integration, which weakens group loyalties and prejudices. On the contrary, under cultural distinction, ethnic minorities are more motivated in retai…
Beyond the Melting Pot: Cultural Transmission, Marriage, and the Evolution of Ethnic and Religious Traits
This paper presents an economic analysis of the intergenerational transmission of ethnic and religious traits through family socialization and marital segregation decisions. Frequency of intragroup marriage (homogamy), as well as socialization rates of religious and ethnic groups, depend on the group's share of the population: minority groups search more intensely for homogamous mates, and spend more resources to socialize their offspring. This p…
Religious Intermarriage and Socialization in the United States
This paper presents an empirical analysis of a choice-theoretic model of cultural transmission. In particular, we use data from the General Social Survey to estimate the structural parameters of a model of marriage and child socialization along religious lines in the United States. The observed intermarriage and socialization rates are consistent with Protestants, Catholics, and Jews having a strong preference for children who identify with their…
On the Joint Evolution of Culture and Political Institutions: Elites and Civil Society
International audience
Efficient Competitive Equilibria with Adverse Selection
Do Walrasian markets function orderly in the presence of adverse selection? In particular, is their outcome efficient when exclusive contracts are enforceable? This paper addresses these questions in the context of a Rothschild-Stiglitz insurance economy. We identify an externality associated with the presence of adverse selection as a special form of consumption externality. Consequently, we show that competitive equilibria always exist but are …
Cooperation as a Transmitted Cultural Trait
In this paper, we study an endogenous cultural selection mechanism for cooperative behavior in a setting where agents are randomly matched in a one-shot interaction Prisoner's Dilemma, and may or may not have complete information about their opponent's preferences. We focus on an endogenous socialization mechanism in which parents spend costly effort to transmit directly their trait to their offspring, taking into account the impact of (oblique) …
Beyond the Melting Pot: Cultural Transmission, Marriage, and the Evolution of Ethnic and Religious Traits
This paper presents an economic analysis of the intergenerational transmission of ethnic and religious traits through family socialization and marital segregation decisions. Frequency of intragroup marriage (homogamy), as well as socialization rates of religious and ethnic groups, depend on the group's share of the population: minority groups search more intensely for homogamous mates, and spend more resources to socialize their offspring. This p…
The Economics of Cultural Transmission and the Dynamics of Preferences
Religious Intermarriage and Socialization in the United States
This paper presents an empirical analysis of a choice-theoretic model of cultural transmission. In particular, we use data from the General Social Survey to estimate the structural parameters of a model of marriage and child socialization along religious lines in the United States. The observed intermarriage and socialization rates are consistent with Protestants, Catholics, and Jews having a strong preference for children who identify with their…
Cooperation as a Transmitted Cultural Trait
In this paper, we study an endogenous cultural selection mechanism for cooperative behavior in a setting where agents are randomly matched in a one-shot interaction Prisoner's Dilemma, and may or may not have complete information about their opponent's preferences. We focus on an endogenous socialization mechanism in which parents spend costly effort to transmit directly their trait to their offspring, taking into account the impact of (oblique) …
Efficient Competitive Equilibria with Adverse Selection
Do Walrasian markets function orderly in the presence of adverse selection? In particular, is their outcome efficient when exclusive contracts are enforceable? This paper addresses these questions in the context of a Rothschild-Stiglitz insurance economy. We identify an externality associated with the presence of adverse selection as a special form of consumption externality. Consequently, we show that competitive equilibria always exist but are …
Are Muslim Immigrants Different in Terms of Cultural Integration
Are Muslim Immigrants Different in Terms of Cultural Integration
Using the UK Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities, we explore the determinants of religious identity for Muslims and non-Muslims. We find that Muslims integrate less and more slowly than non-Muslims. A Muslim born in the UK and having spent there more than 50 years shows a comparable level of probability of having a strong religious identity than a non-Muslim just arrived in the country. Furthermore, Muslims seem to follow a different inte…
Social Economics
The Economics of Cultural Transmission and Socialization
Cultural transmission arguably plays an important role in the determination of many fundamental preference traits (e.g., discounting, risk aversion and altruism) and most cultural traits, social norms, and ideological tenets ( e.g., attitudes towards family and fertility practices, and attitudes in the job market). It is, however, the pervasive evidence of the resilience of ethnic and religious traits across generations that motivates a large fra…
Bend It Like Beckham: Ethnic Identity and Integration
We propose a theoretical framework to study the determinants of ethnic and religious identity along two distinct motivational processes which have been proposed in the social sciences: cultural conformity and cultural distinction. Under cultural conformity, ethnic identity is reduced by neighborhood integration, which weakens group loyalties and prejudices. On the contrary, under cultural distinction, ethnic minorities are more motivated in retai…
Bend it Like Beckham: Ethnic Identity and Integration
Ethnic identity and labour market outcomes of immigrants in Europe: Immigrants and the Labour Market
We study the relationship between ethnic identity and labour market outcomes of non-EU immigrants in Europe. Using the European Social Survey, we find that there is a penalty to be paid for immigrants with a strong identity. Being a first generation immigrant leads to a penalty of about 17% while second-generation immigrants have a probability of being employed that is not statistically different from that of natives. However, when they have a st…
Formation and persistence of oppositional identities
Cultural Integration of Immigrants in Europe
The concepts of cultural diversity and cultural identity are at the forefront of the political debate in many western societies. In Europe, the discussion is stimulated by the political pressures associated with immigration flows, which are increasing in many European countries. The imperatives that current immigration trends impose on European democracies bring to light a number of issues that need to be addressed. What are the patterns and dyna…
Trade and Cultural Diversity
Coévolution entre institutions et culture: Une application au développement de long terme
Cet article propose un cadre formel permettant d’étudier la coévolution entre institutions et culture et leurs implications en terme de résultats socio-économiques. Le changement institutionnel est décrit comme un processus permettant de résoudre des problèmes fondamentaux de crédibilité politique entre groupes sociaux. L’évolution culturelle est modélisée comme un processus de transmission intergenerationnel au sein d’une dynamique de population…
Bend it like Beckham: Ethnic identity and integration
Inequality, redistribution and cultural integration in the Welfare State
Religious Legitimacy and the Joint Evolution of Culture and Institutions
Culture, Institutions & the Long Divergence
Culture, Institutions & the Long Divergence
Culture, Institutions & the Long Divergence
Recent theories of the Long Divergence between Middle Eastern and Western European economies focus on Middle Eastern (over-)reliance on religious legitimacy, use of slave soldiers, and persistence of restrictive proscriptions of religious (Islamic) law. These theories take as exogenous the cultural values that complement the prevailing institutions. As a result, they miss the role of cultural values in either supporting the persistence of or indu…
Advances in the Economic Theory of Cultural Transmission
JUE insight: Learning epidemiology by doing: The empirical implications of a Spatial-SIR model with behavioral responses
Heterogeneous Dynasties and Long-Run Mobility
Recent empirical work has demonstrated a positive correlation between grandparent-child wealth rank, even after controlling for parent-child wealth rank, and a positive correlation between dynastic wealth ranks across almost six hundred years. We show that a simple heterogeneous agents model with idiosyncratic wealth returns generates a realistic wealth distribution, but fails to capture these long-run patterns of wealth mobility. An auto-correla…
Culture, Economy, and Development Studies (21 works) · Economics (19 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Political science (14 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Cultural transmission in animals (8 works) · Ethnic group (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (8 works) · Geography (7 works)