Human Capital in the Creation of Social Capital: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets

Abstract

We provide evidence that individuals selected from societies with high human capital are more likely to cooperate when placed in an environment comparable to the state of nature: The world of New York City diplomatic parking. National average IQ, a robust predictor of economic growth, is found to be a robust (negative) predictor of the number of unpaid parking tickets issued to a country's diplomatic delegation at the United Nations. Average years of education have a similarly strong relationship with civil behavior. Results hold after controlling for GDP per capita and corruption in the diplomat's home-country. We integrate this result into the experimental game theory literature on cognitive skills and pro-social behavior.