Abstract:

Many people care about how they are perceived by those around them. This talk will present an overview of recent work on how such social image concerns affect important economic decisions. The first part will focus on the identification, measurement, and interpretation of social image effects across a variety of settings, from educational choices, to labor market decisions, to consumption behavior. In a given society, social norms influence the social sanctions or rewards associated with certain behaviors or opinions, and thus shape social image concerns. The second part of the talk will focus on how these social image effects can be reshaped, analyzing the importance of misperceptions (and their correction) and of the dissemination of rationales and justifications to facilitate the expression of dissenting views.