Norms
Lessons in Policing from Kosovo
Riza Shillova was one of the first police officers recruited to the newly formed Kosovo police in 1999. He continues to serve after multiple promotions. In July of 2011, he sat down with Princeton’s Innovations in …
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Social Norms About Sleep Patterns
At Brain Pickings, Maria Popova writes about the recent work of Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist whose work suggests that sleep patterns are related to biology rather than character. Roenneberg’s work aside, some human populations seems to have fairly …
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Jaywalking in LA vs NYC
LA experienced increases urban tract density for most of the 20th century, the only major American city to hold this distinction. The trend is likely to continue. Because a denser LA means more walking, the …
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The Dog Poop Problem in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires has a dog poop problem. According to Atlantic Cities blogger Natalie Schachar, the formal rule requiring people to pick up after their dogs is rarely enforced. The lack of enforcement, along with an …
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Taking a Page from Bogotá’s Playbook
The local government in Shaoyang, a city in Hunan Province, recently gave 1,000 retirees the authority to ticket their fellow citizens for traffic violations and other infractions such as littering, spitting, and petty theft. The …
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Rules of the Road: Traffic Mortality in Kenya
Kenya has an estimated 34.4 road deaths for every 100,000 people, the 16th highest traffic mortality rate in the world. The Guardian recently reported on tough new proposals to crack down on reckless driving: The …
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Beauty Norms in Qingdao
Over at the NYU Development Research Institute blog, Bill Easterly points to a recent story in the New York Times and suggests that economists’ recent work on social norms, culture, and development is an encouraging …
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Schmidt and Tomasello on Social Norms
Beginning at around 3 years of age, young children do not just follow social norms but actively enforce them on others—even from a third party stance, in situations in which they themselves are not directly …
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Nathan Nunn on Culture and Economic Development
What explains differences in income per capita across former European colonies? This question has important implications for our understanding of what causes economic growth. In a recent working paper, Nathan Nunn reconsiders two possible explanations. Acemoglu …
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