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dc.contributor.authorGulesci, Selim
dc.contributor.authorJindani, Sam
dc.contributor.authorFerrara, Eliana La
dc.contributor.authorSmerdon, David
dc.contributor.authorSulaiman, Munshi
dc.contributor.authorYoung, Peyton
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-15T07:05:16Z
dc.date.available2022-02-15T07:05:16Z
dc.date.copyright2021
dc.date.issued2021-02
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10361/16253
dc.descriptionThis article was published in Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the Article's website is at: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15776en_US
dc.description.abstractHarmful social norms often persist despite legal and economic sanctions against them. Can the abandonment of a harmful norm be facilitated by the presence of a 'mildly harmful' alternative that may act as a stepping stone in the medium run? Or will this become a new absorbing norm? We propose a dynamic, game-theoretic model to analyze this question, focusing on interim dynamics. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for a stepping stone transition, which involve as key parameters the social penalty factors and the difference in intrinsic utilities of the various actions. We explore the implications of the model using original data on female genital cutting in Somalia, where a transition is underway from an extremely invasive to a milder form of cutting. The framework is general and can be applied to other examples, both contemporary and historical, including footbinding, dueling, child marriage and smoking. Our analysis underlines the importance of considering intermediate alternatives when formulating policies against harmful norms.en_US
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherCentre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)en_US
dc.relation.urihttps://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15776
dc.subjectFemale genital cuttingen_US
dc.subjectFemale genital mutilationen_US
dc.subjectFGCen_US
dc.subjectFGMen_US
dc.subjectNorm dynamicsen_US
dc.subjectSocial normsen_US
dc.titleA stepping stone approach to understanding harmful normsen_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
dc.description.versionPublished
dc.contributor.departmentBRAC Institute of Governance and Development


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