TY  - JOUR
AU  - Glaeser,Edward L.
AU  - Sacerdote,Bruce I.
AU  - Scheinkman,Jose A.
TI  - The Social Multiplier
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9153
PY  - 2002
Y2  - September 2002
DO  - 10.3386/w9153
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9153
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9153.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Edward L. Glaeser
Department of Economics
315A Littauer Center
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-0575
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: eglaeser@harvard.edu

Bruce Sacerdote
6106 Rockefeller Hall
Department of Economics
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755-3514
Tel: 603/646-2121
Fax: 603/646-2122
E-Mail: Bruce.I.Sacerdote@dartmouth.edu

José A. Scheinkman
Department of Economics
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
E-Mail: js3317@columbia.edu
AB  - In many cases, aggregate data is used to make inferences about individual level behavior.  If there are social interactions in which one person's actions influence his neighbor's incentives or information, then these inferences are inappropriate.  The presence of positive social interactions, or strategic complementarities, implies the existence of a social multiplier where aggregate relationships will overstate individual elasticities.  We present a brief model and then estimate the size of the social multiplier in three areas: the impact of education on wages, the impact of demographics on crime and group membership among Dartmouth roommates.  In all three areas there appears to be a significant social multiplier.
ER  -