Skip to main content
Log in

Similarities and differences when building trust: the role of cultures

  • Published:
Experimental Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We run an experiment in which students of different European nationalities are matched in groups of five and repeatedly choose with whom within their group they want to play a trust game. Participants observe of each other age, gender, nationality and number of siblings. The region of origin, “North” or “South” is a major determinant of success in the experiment. Participants tend to trust those they trusted before and who trusted them. We do not find evidence of regional discrimination per se. It is only the underlying and significant differences in behavior that translate through repeated interactions into differences in payoffs between the two regions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acemoglou, D., Johnson, S., & Robinson, J. A. (2001). The colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation. American Economic Review, 91, 1369–1401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altmann, S., Dohmen, T., & Wibral, M. (2007). Do the reciprocal trust less? IZA Discussion Paper No. 3010.

  • Ananish, C., & Gangadharan, L. (2007). An experimental analysis of trust and trustworthiness. Southern Economic Journal, 73(4), 959–985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arrow, K. (1972). Gifts and exchanges. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1, 343–362.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banfield, E. C. (1958). The moral basis of a backward society. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellemare, C., & Kröger, S. (2007). On representative social capital. European Economic Review, 51, 183–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bentolila, S., & Ichino, A. (2007). Unemployment and consumption near and far away from the Mediterranean? Journal of Population Economics, 21, 255–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berg, J., Dickhaut, J., & McCabe, K. (1995). Trust, reciprocity and social history. Games and Economic Behavior, 10, 122–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchan, N. R., Johnson, E. J., & Croson, R. T. A. (2006). Let’s get personal: an international examination of the influence of communication, culture and social distance on other regarding preferences. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 60(3), 373–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burks, S. V., Carpenter, J. P., & Verhoogen, E. (2003). Playing both roles in the trust game. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 51(2), 195–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (2003). The world fact book. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/.

  • Charness, G., Du, N., & Yang, C.-L. (2009). Trust and trustworthiness reputations in an investment game (Mimeo).

  • Cochard, F., Nguyen Van, P., & Willinger, M., (2004). Trusting behavior in a repeated investment game. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 55(1), 31–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Csukás, P. F., Kovács, T., & Willinger, M. (2008). The determinants of trusting and reciprocal evidence from an intercultural experiment. Journal of Economic Development, 33(1), 71–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engle-Warnick, J., & Slonim, R. L. (2006). Learning to trust in indefinitely repeated games. Games and Economic Behavior, 54(1), 95–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, B. (2005). Relative importance and value. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business (Mimeo). http://www.prismanalytics.com/docs/RelativeImportance.pdf.

  • Fershtman, C., & Gneezy, U. (2001). Discrimination in a segmented society: an experimental approach. Quaterly Journal of Economics, 116, 351–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fershtman, C., Gneezy, U., & Verboven, F., (2005). Discrimination and nepotism: the efficiency of the anonymity rule. Journal of Legal Studies, 34(2), 371–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser, E. L., Laibson, D. I., Scheinkman, J. A., & Soutter, C. L. (2000). Measuring trust. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115(3), 811–846.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser, E. L., a Porta, R., Lopez-De-Silanes, F., & Schleifer, A. (2004). Do Institutions cause growth (NBER working paper No. W10568).

  • Greif, A. (1994). Cultural beliefs and the organization of society: a historical and theoretical reflection on collectivist and individualist societies? Journal of Political Economy, 102(5), 912–950.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greig, F., & Bohnet, I. (2006). Is there reciprocity in a reciprocal-exchange economy? Evidence of gendered norms from a slum in Nairobi, Kenya (Mimeo). http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~ibohnet/researchpdf/Greig%20Bohnet%2006_01_06.pdf.

  • Grömping, U. (2007). Estimators of relative importance in linear regression based on variance decomposition. The American Statistician, 61, 139–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2004a). The role of social capital in financial development. American Economic Review, 94, 526–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2004b). Cultural biases in economic exchange (NBER working paper No. 1105).

  • Hall, R. E., & Jones, C. (1999). Why do some countries produce much more output per worker than others? Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(1), 83–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healy, P. J. (2007). Group reputations, stereotypes, and cooperation in a repeated labor market. American Economic Review, 97, 1751–1773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holm, H. J., & Danielson, A. (2005). Tropic trust versus Nordic trust: experimental evidence from Tanzania and Sweden. Economic Journal, 115, 505–532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holm, H. J., & Nystedt, P. (2005). Intra-generational trust—a semi-experimental study of trust among different generations. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 58(3), 403–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King-Casas, B., Tomlin, D., Anen, C., Camerer, C. F., Quartz, S. R., & Read Montague, P., (2005). Getting to know you: reputation and trust in a two-person economic exchange. Science, 308(5718), 78–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knack, S., & Keefer, P. (1997). Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 52, 1251–1287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreps, D. M., & Wilson, R. (1982). Reputation and imperfect information. Journal of Economic Theory, 27, 253–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • La Porta, R., Lopez-De-Silanes, F., Schleifer, A., & Vishny, R. (1997). Trust in large organizations. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 87, 333–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • La Porta, R., Lopez-De-Silanes, F., Schleifer, A., & Vishny, R. (1999). The quality of government. The Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 15, 222–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. D. (1993). Making democracy work: civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schotter, A. (1981). The economic theory of social institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schotter, A., & Sopher, B. (2006). Trust and trustworthiness in games: an experimental study of intergenerational advice. Experimental Economics, 9, 123–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slonim, R. (2006). Gender selection discrimination: evidence from a trust game (Mimeo). Case Western Reserve University.

  • Slonim, R., & Garbarino, E. (2008). Increases in trust and altruism from partner selection: experimental evidence. Experimental Econonomics, 11, 134–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutter, M., & Kocher, M. G. (2007). Trust and trustworthiness across different age groups. Games and Economic Behavior, 59, 364–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabellini, G. (2005). Culture and institutions: economic development in the regions of Europe (Mimeo). Bocconi University.

  • Weber, E. U., & Hsee, C. K. (1998). Cross-cultural difference in risk perception, but cross cultural similiarities in attitudes towards perceived risk. Management Science, 44(9), 1205–1217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willinger, M., Keser, C., Lohmann, C., & Usunier, J.-C. (2003). A comparison of trust and reciprocity between France and Germany: experimental investigation based on the investment game. Journal of Economic Psychology, 24, 447–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karl H. Schlag.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

(pdf 407KB MB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bornhorst, F., Ichino, A., Kirchkamp, O. et al. Similarities and differences when building trust: the role of cultures. Exp Econ 13, 260–283 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-010-9240-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-010-9240-x

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation