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Lindon Robison

Dr. Lindon J. Robison was a Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AFRE) in the tenure stream at Michigan State University from 1977 to 2021. He holds a B.S. degree from Utah State University, an M.S. degree from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University. He has published numerous books and articles, including the text for the department’s capstone Agri-business management course 435 which he also teaches. He also taught AFRE graduate courses in calculus for economists, mathematical statistics, and mathematical programming. He has consulted for governments, firms, and international organizations such as the World Bank, particularly in Latin America. He has worked for the US Government as an agricultural economist, has been a visiting faculty member at Brigham Young University, the University of Minnesota, and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala Sweden. He has won many academic awards including Best Ph.D. thesis for his work on risk and portfolio management of rural banks and in 2012 was made a fellow of the Institutional and Behavioral Economics section of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). His most frequently cited works include The Competitive Firm’s Response to Risk which he authored with Peter J. Barry and “Is Social Capital Really Capital?” which he authored with Allan A. Schmid and Marcelo E. Siles. His pioneering research focuses on the role of social capital (relationships of caring, trust, and regard) on establishing the terms and level of trade—that has been applied to minimum sell land and car prices, the likelihood of loan approval, and medical screen decisions. His most recent publications describe social capital motives and distinguish between relational goods and commodities.

Published Articles

The High Cost of Cheap Social Capital

This paper briefly reviews the theory of social, negative, and cheap social capital and then explains the popularity and the high cost of cheap social capital. Next, this paper points out that our voluntary exchanges (which are enabled by prospects of mutual gain) and the high cost of involuntary exchanges (which are entered into in response to threats and defensive and destructive acts) both reflect our responses to the same physical and socio-emotional needs. Therefore, what differentiates our responses to similar needs are the relationships we have with others—whether they are social, negative, or cheap. Finally, this paper offers some suggestions for avoiding the high cost of cheap social capital.

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The Cheap Side of Social Capital

Earned, inherited, and covenant commonalities enable persons and groups of people to develop sympathy and empathy for each other. The sympathy and empathy that one person or group has for another person or group is defined here as social capital. The absence of commonalities often results in relationships of apathy and antipathy that one person or group has for another person or group, defined here as negative social capital. People and groups that share negative social capital for the same person or group can form cheap social capital relationships characterized by the couplet—the enemy of my enemy is my strange bedfellow.

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