Trust and Trustworthiness Among Economics Majors

Economics Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 2799-2815, 2011

17 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2012

See all articles by Utteeyo Dasgupta

Utteeyo Dasgupta

Fordham University; IZA; Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Arjun Menon

NERA Economic Consulting

Date Written: October 1, 2011

Abstract

We use a simple trust-game to elicit trusting and trustworthy behavior among students majoring in economics and other disciplines. We also administer a Social Values Orientation (SVO) survey to evaluate any possible correlation between an individual's levels of trust indicated in the survey and his/her action in the game. Our results suggest that although students pursuing a major in economics appear to be no different than other students in choosing trusting actions, when it comes to being trustworthy, the former group always chooses the self payoff maximizing action rather than the trustworthy action. Scores from the SVO survey do not help in predicting trusting or trustworthy behavior in our experiment.

Suggested Citation

Dasgupta, Utteeyo and Menon, Arjun, Trust and Trustworthiness Among Economics Majors (October 1, 2011). Economics Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 2799-2815, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1994437

Utteeyo Dasgupta (Contact Author)

Fordham University ( email )

113 West 60th Street
New York, NY 10023
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/view/utteeyodasgupta/home

IZA ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Global Labor Organization (GLO) ( email )

Collogne
Germany

Arjun Menon

NERA Economic Consulting ( email )

50 Main Street, 14th Floor
White Plains, NY 10606
United States

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