The role of cultural leaders in the transmission of preferences

Abstract

International audienceThis paper studies the population dynamics of preference traits in a model of intergenerational cultural transmission with cultural leaders who compete for oblique socialization. We show that by adding this new channel in the transmission of preferences, i.e. cultural leaders, in steady-state, there cannot be an equilibrium with total assimilation or total integration of the population

Structural Interventions in Networks

“…In certain applications, the new link is created to connect isolated networks. For example, in the integration of immigrants into a new country, communication between cultural leaders serves as a bond connecting two initially segregated communities (see Verdier and Zenou, 2015, 2018). We focus on the bridges connecting isolated networks in the following.…”

“…This article also speaks to the literature on the effect of bridge(s) between isolated communities. Verdier and Zenou (2015, 2018) study communication between cultural leaders who serve as bridge nodes connecting different racial groups. Cai and Szeidl (2018) empirically demonstrate that business meetings facilitate interfirm communications and create enormous economic value by improving firm performance.…”

Failed Secular Revolutions: Religious Belief, Competition, and Extremism

“…Third, we contribute an analysis of failed religious co-optation to the growing literature on backlash to cultural policies, including Carvalho (2013), Fouka (2020), Bazzi et al (2020), Iyigun et al (2021), Carvalho et al (2022), andSacks (2023). Finally, our model adds to a small, but growing literature on the regulation of cultural transmission by religious clubs (e.g., Verdier and Zenou, 2015;Carvalho, 2016;Carvalho, Koyama, and Sacks, 2017;Carvalho and Sacks, 2023). Unlike prior work, our model has a religious incumbent (establishment) and focuses on the entry of more radical organizations.…”

Cultural Transmission with Incomplete Information: Parental Perceived Efficacy and Group Misrepresentation

“…Cultural substitution (complementarity) captures the idea that the vertical socialization level negatively (positively) depends on the presence of own cultural trait in the population(Bisin and Verdier, 2001). 8 In recent years the study of cultural leaders has become of interest in the cultural transmission literature, for exampleVerdier and Zenou (2015),Prummer and Siedlarek (2017) andVerdier and Zenou (2018) …”

“…Refer to these previous works about cultural leaders: Nteta and Wallsten (2012),Acemoglu and Jackson (2014),Verdier and Zenou (2015),Prummer and Siedlarek (2017),Verdier and Zenou (2018) 22 Endogenizing the intensity of the bias β i does not bring any meaningful insight.…”