José Manuel Sánchez Santos

Does Corruption Have Social Roots? The Role of Culture and Social Capital

The aim of this work is to analyse the influence of sociocultural factors on corruption levels. Taking as starting point Husted (J Int Bus Studies 30:339–359, 1999) and Graeff (In: Lambsdorff J, Taube M, Schramm M (eds) The new institutional economics of corruption. Routledge, London, 2005) proposals, we consider both the interrelation between cultural dimensions and the diverse expressions of social capital with corruption. According to our results, the universalistic trust (linking and bridging social capital) constitutes a positive social capital that is negatively linked to corruption. In contrast, the particularistic levels of trust (bonding) can constitute a negative social capital directly related to corruption levels. Furthermore, cultures which are favourable to the legitimation of dependency relations and the formation of closed particularistic groups (power-distance and community factors) create a breeding ground for the development of these amoral rent-seeking structures.

Economic crisis, sport success and willingness to pay: the case of a football club

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to obtain evidence about the scope of the determinants of the willingness to pay (WTP) of the residents in a Spanish city (A Coruna) for keeping a professional football team (Deportivo) competing at the highest level. Apart from the individual socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and their attitudes as football fans, the authors try to know the influence on the WTP of factors such as the general economic conditions and the plausibility of the team disappearance. Design/methodology/approach – The value of the intangible benefits associated with the team existence is derived from the application of the contingent valuation method (CVM), using two surveys conducted in 2003 and 2012, respectively, with the aim of obtaining information concerning citizens’ behaviour and attitudes towards a professional football team. Findings – The consumption of public goods generated by the local football team is relatively inelastic to the sport success and general econ...

Evolution over time of the determinants of preferences for redistribution and the support for the welfare state

The objective of this article is to analyse the determinants of preferences for redistribution in Spain both at an aggregate and regional level. Using country level data, we put to the test the Alesina and Angeletos’ (2005) hypothesis, the strong and positive relationship between the ‘belief that luck determines income’ and the support for redistributive policies. As an innovative contribution, we contrast this hypothesis using a set of panel data models with regional and time fixed effects. Our main finding is the existence of a structural change in preferences formation for redistribution in Spain between 1995 and 2007. Furthermore, the empirical results provide some evidence suggesting that (1) the belief that society is unfair have a moderate effect on the individuals’ preferences for redistribution and (2) regional beliefs in Spanish regions are not equally important when determining demand for redistribution.

Identification. sympathy and willingness to pay

The present study analyzes the effects of sympathy and identification between sports fans and clubs in the recognition of willingness to pay in favor of these organizations. With this objective, after reconsidering the diverse approaches to this type of bonds, we propose in the first part a theoretical model that considers the psychosociological factors which affect the willingness to pay for this kind of goods and services that have characteristics similar to public goods. This model allows us to extract two hypotheses on the interrelation between sympathy, income and willingness to pay. In the second part, we put these hypotheses to the test. The results establish, as predicted, that identification or sympathy with a club constitutes an important causal factor in its valuation, although income has no causal relation with this. Both can explain some irregularities found within the contingent valuation method.