Prosocial environments promote individual success: evidence from a school network panel study

Abstract

Why do we care for others? Several studies have shown that people holding altruistic dispositions tend to be more successful than others. Since caring for others is often costly, theoretical arguments propose that the social context plays a crucial role in determining whether altruism is advantageous and, thus, can be sustained over time. Our study empirically investigates the underlying social context and mechanisms by which altruism can be beneficial for individual’s success and therefore be advantageous. To this end, we study altru Show more