Collins Conference Room
Seminar
  US Mountain Time

Our campus is closed to the public for this event.

Marion Dumas and Elly Powers (Santa Fe Institute)

Abstract.  We explore how feedbacks between social status and reputation could fuel structural inequality. To ground the discussion, we will first present empirical work on two villages in South India. Data on reputational standing, socioeconomic status, support networks, and public religious action can be combined to show what amounts to a “reputational poverty trap”: more prominent individuals gain more from reputation-building acts than less prominent individuals. We then seek to understand the mechanisms underlying this positive feedback. To do so, we present a (very preliminary) model that explores the dynamic relationships between network position, wealth, reputation for cooperation, and underlying generosity. In particular, we look for the conditions under which reputation and wealth becomes decoupled from individuals’ underlying propensity to help others as a result of the positive feedback between reputation and one's visibility in the network.

Purpose: 
Research Collaboration
SFI Host: 
Sam Bowles

More SFI Events