In 2019 Canada's second-largest province introduced a selective ban on religious clothing in the public service as part of a broader effort to promote secularism in the public sphere. Using novel survey data we find evidence of spillovers onto labour force participation and religious expression...

Health-harmful norms persist because they fulfill a socially valued function. In many Nigerian communities, female genital cutting (FGC) is practiced because it is believed to discourage sex outside marriage, outweighing its perceived costs for many households. This paper examines the impact of...

This paper examines the effect of proximity to mining activity on men's adherence to traditional masculinity norms. Combining geocoded survey data with detailed spatial information on mining activity across 37 countries, we employ an instrumental variable strategy that exploits exogenous...

Hiring discrimination against candidates from ethnocultural minority groups is a persistent concern in contemporary labour markets. This study examines how professional recruiters evaluate fictitious job applicants with profiles that systematically vary in signals that form ethnocultural...

We study how adolescents' second-order beliefs about their parents' occupational preferences shape gendered career aspirations. In a consequential early-career choice setting, we combine a parental choice experiment with a randomized salience intervention among students. Parents give gendered...

We study whether policy can shift gendered beliefs, norms, and labor market outcomes by exploiting a major expansion of earmarked paternity leave in Denmark. The reform generated large first-stage effects, substantially reallocating leave from mothers to fathers. Using a regression discontinuity...

This paper investigates the causal impact of free primary education (FPE) on fertility decisions among parents in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the interplay between the policy, intra-household bargaining, and cultural norms. Using Demographic and Health Survey data and exploiting the...

We conducted a within-subject laboratory experiment in which participants decided whether to experience physical discomfort for charity, with or without additional personal compensation. Acceptance decreased with greater discomfort and increased with both larger charitable donations and personal...

This Focus Note includes illustrative examples from successful initiatives around the world that demonstrate the potential of these strategies—from digital financial solutions that respect privacy concerns to data-driven approaches that challenge institutional biases. Development actors,...

This paper develops a conceptual framework to analyze how gendered social norms mediate the effects of legal frameworks on women’s economic empowerment. Using the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law domains, Safety, Mobility, Work, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Childcare, Entrepreneurship,...

This paper studies whether gender gaps in women's labor-market outcomes are sustained by systematic misperceptions about social and spousal support for maternal employment. Using a representative sample of 1,732 cohabiting couples with young children in Bogotá, we show that while support for...

In 2019 Canada's second-largest province introduced a selective ban on religious clothing in the public service as part of a broader effort to promote secularism in the public sphere. Using novel survey data we find evidence of spillovers onto labour force participation and religious expression...

Using census data from over 500,000 dual-earner households in Mexico, we show that couples in which the wife earns just above half of the household income are far less common than those in which she earns just below that threshold - a pattern that has been attributed to gender norms that create...

Gender norms about parental labor supply are central to explaining persistent gender inequalities in the labor market, yet their causal determinants remain poorly understood. We examine whether people's gender attitudes are driven by mothers' and fathers' earnings, which may shape views about...

This paper examines how authority figures in higher education shape gender norms over the long run. We exploit the random assignment of first-year students to faculty advisors at an elite university in the Middle East and combine administrative records with an alumni survey measuring gender...

Do earthquakes strengthen social cohesion or undermine it? While some theories suggest they strengthen social bonds, others suggest they lead to social disintegration. We add to the limited causal evidence on this phenomenon using the 2012 Northern Italy earthquake, and exploit a unique dataset...

Democratic societies depend on citizens following rules even when those rules are set by political opponents. Rising polarization may threaten this behavior. We test the impact of polarization on rule compliance in the United States across three pre-registered waves (May and November 2024; April 2025; n...

Forest protection contributes to climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Yet negative income shocks can induce local forest users to increase extraction in order to cope with economic hardship. We study how social norms shape collaborative forest management when communities face...

Democratic societies depend on citizens following rules even when those rules are set by political opponents. Rising polarization may threaten this behavior. We test the impact of polarization on rule compliance in the United States across three pre-registered waves (May and November 2024; April 2025; n...

This paper argues that Colombia's taxation problems reflect a deeper political economy equilibrium shaped by extractive institutions, extreme inequality, and cultural norms that favor individual solutions over collective ones. Historical legacies produced a weak and often distrusted state, which...

This paper quantifies the contributions of social norms and economic incentives to the 350-hour annual gap in maternal labor supply between East and West Germany. Using a collective model of family formation and labor supply estimated on GSOEP data from 2000-2017, we find that the working-mother...

In December 2025, Australia became the first country to ban youth under 16 years old from holding accounts on major social media platforms, a policy now under consideration in more than a dozen countries and in numerous states. Because social media use is inherently social, the effectiveness of...

This chapter reviews the growing literature on the origin, persistence and evolution of cultural norms. I begin by examining the deep historical forces that shape the formation of cultural norms, with particular attention to the role of geography, pre-industrial societal characteristics,...

This paper quantifies the contributions of social norms and economic incentives to the 350-hour annual gap in maternal labor supply between East and West Germany. Using a collective model of family formation and labor supply estimated on GSOEP data from 2000-2017, we find that the working-mother...

Social sanctions sustain social order by reinforcing widely accepted principles. Political polarization may weaken this mechanism by fragmenting these principles, yet causal effects are hard to identify: observational data cannot separate the effect of polarized preferences from exposure to...

This paper studies the determinants of intensive kinship norms in human societies throughout the world. We expand the existing literature by considering three separate determinants of kinship intensity: the natural environment, religion, and state rule. Our novel methodology takes advantage of...

Gender norms about parental labor supply are central to explaining persistent gender inequalities in the labor market, yet their causal determinants remain poorly understood. We examine whether people's gender attitudes are driven by mothers' and fathers' earnings, which may shape views about...

This paper uses American Time Use Survey data to show that prime-age men's and women's average weekly work hours followed parallel trends from 2011-19, but then abruptly converged in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. This convergence was driven by the changing behavior of couples, for...

Fathers' parental leave uptake remains low in many advanced economies despite substantial policy efforts. We study a setting where financial and eligibility barriers are minimal: employed, native-born first-time fathers entitled to generous, non-transferable leave benefits. Using Swedish...

Shared norms and tolerance of dissent are cornerstones of democracy, the rule of law, and effective governance. Yet societies often harbor deep normative disagreements, raising a foundational question: how does normative pluralism -- the coexistence of divergent moral standards -- shape the...

This article seeks to explore the socio-demographic determinants underlying the engagement of moderators and the production of content moderation norms in the French Twitch scene. Using a mixed-method approach, it highlights gender, politicisation, social class, and social vulnerability...

Accurate demographic data are essential for effective policy design, yet private costs may deter individuals from truthfully reporting sensitive information. We examine this market failure and its implications in the context of child motherhood. Using administrative records from Brazil, Mexico,...

Global firms have a higher share of female employees than domestic non-exporters. To explain this fact, this paper tests whether international trade and FDI are channels through which norms regarding gender (in)equality are transmitted from customers and investors to firms. We employ pooled...

This chapter examines the role of religion in economic development, both historically and today. Religion's influence varies globally, with high religiosity in countries like Pakistan and low rates in China. Despite declines in some Western countries, religion remains influential worldwide, with...

Social norms are crucial drivers of human behavior. However, misperceptions of others’ opinions may sustain norms and conforming behavior even if a majority opposes the norm. Privately shifting individuals’ beliefs about true societal support may be insufficient to change behavior if others...