Gender and racial disparities in altruism in social networks

Citation

Hsieh, C. S. & Lin, X. (2024). Gender and racial disparities in altruism in social networks. Regional Science and Urban Economics. vol. 108

Abstract

This paper studies gender and racial disparities in altruism among social network members who are endogenously linked. We specify group (gender or race) specific altruistic interactions models, as well as intra- and inter-group altruistic interactions models, to capture the heterogeneous patterns of altruism associated with the characteristics of two individuals in pairs. We apply the models to the Add Health data to identify altruism and social interaction effects on academic achievement and smoking behaviors among adolescents. The results indicate that females are generally more altruistic than males, and whites appear to be the most altruistic racial group. We also find that blacks exhibit spiteful effects towards other black students who are considered to “act white.” © 2024 Elsevier B.V.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2024.104025

Keyword(s)

Altruism

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Regional Science and Urban Economics

Author(s)

Hsieh, C. S.
Lin, X.

Year Published

2024

Volume Number

108

DOI

10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2024.104025

Reference ID

10424