Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282617 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16490
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper explores whether the experience of a severe recession during early adulthood shapes individuals' prosocial attitudes. The analysis uses survey responses to experimentally validated questions that measure prosocial attitudes for approximately 65,000 respondents in 75 countries. The identification approach exploits variation in recession experiences across 78 different birth cohorts. We find that exposure to a recession during early adulthood is associated with lower levels of prosociality later in life. The effect only emerges for experiences during impressionable years (age 18–25), mainly affects prosocial attitudes among men, and is orthogonal to the effect of experiences with democracy.
Subjects: 
prosocial attitudes
impressionable years
experience effects
cohort effects
JEL: 
D91
E30
E71
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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