中文摘要
自治是民主社会的一项标志性特征，它是否会培育普遍化合作规范？这种效应是否会持续存在？如果会，原因何在？我利用瑞士的一个自然实验考察这些问题。中世纪，一个显赫的贵族家族因没有继承人而绝嗣。由此，一些瑞士市镇实现了自治，而其他市镇则在此后600年间继续处于封建制度之下。来自一项行为实验、世界价值观调查和瑞士家庭面板调查的证据一致表明，来自历史上实行自治的市镇的个体，如今表现出更强的合作规范。公投中的选民投票率数据使我能够追踪这些效应对个人需承担成本而有益于社会的行为的影响，时间跨度超过150年。此外，合作规范还体现为慈善捐赠和环境保护等亲社会行为。瑞士的独特之处在于，其登记数据记录了每个家庭的原籍地。我利用这些数据表明，在历史上人口迁移较少的背景下，上述效应通过文化传承而持续存在。
Abstract
Does self‐governance, a hallmark of democratic societies, foster norms of generalized cooperation? Does this effect persist, and if so, why? I investigate these questions using a natural experiment in Switzerland. In the Middle Ages, the absence of an heir resulted in the extinction of a prominent noble dynasty. As a result, some Swiss municipalities became self‐governing, whereas the others remained under feudalism for another 600 years. Evidence from a behavioral experiment, the World Values Survey and the Swiss Household Panel consistently show that individuals from historically self‐governing municipalities exhibit stronger norms of cooperation today. Referenda data on voter‐turnout allow me to trace these effects on individually costly and socially beneficial actions for over 150 years. Furthermore, norms of cooperation map into prosocial behaviors like charitable giving and environmental protection. Uniquely, Switzerland tracks every family's place of origin in registration data, which I use to demonstrate persistence from cultural transmission in a context of historically low migration.