Trust and the Reference Point for Trustworthiness in Gulf and Western Countries
Abstract
Why is private investment so low in Gulf compared to Western countries? We investigate cross-regional differences in trust and reference points for trustworthiness as possible factors. Experiments controlling for cross-regional differences in institutions and beliefs about trustworthiness reveal that Gulf citizens pay much more than Westerners to avoid trusting, and hardly respond when returns to trusting change. These differences can be explained by subjects' gain/loss utility relative to their region's reference point for trustworthiness. The relation-based production of trust in the Gulf induces higher levels of trustworthiness, albeit within groups, than the rule-based interactions prevalent in the West.Download Info
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Paper provided by Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government in its series Working Paper Series with number rwp09-015.Length:
Date of creation: Jun 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp09-015
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- Iris Bohnet & Benedikt Herrmann & Richard Zeckhauser, 2010. "Trust and the Reference points for Trustworthiness in Gulf and Western Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 125(2), pages 811-828, May.
- Herrmann, Benedikt & Zeckhauser, Richard Jay & Bohnet, Iris, 2009. "Trust and the Reference Points for Trustworthiness in Gulf and Western Countries," Scholarly Articles 4417252, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
- NEP-ALL-2009-09-26 (All new papers)
- NEP-ARA-2009-09-26 (Arab World)
- NEP-CBE-2009-09-26 (Cognitive & Behavioural Economics)
- NEP-CWA-2009-09-26 (Central & Western Asia)
- NEP-EXP-2009-09-26 (Experimental Economics)
- NEP-SOC-2009-09-26 (Social Norms & Social Capital)
References
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Francisco Campos-Ortiz & Louis Putterman & T. K. Ahn & Loukas Balafoutas & Mongoljin Batsaikhan & Matthias Sutter, 2012.
"Security of Property as a Public Good: Institutions, Socio-Political Environment and Experimental Behavior in Five Countries,"
Working Papers
2012-12, Banco de México.
- Francisco Campos-Ortiz & Louis Putterman & T.K. Ahn & Loukas Balafoutas & Mongoljin Batsaikhan & Matthias Sutter, 2012. "Security of Property as a Public Good: Institutions, Socio-Political Environment and Experimental Behavior in Five Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 4003, CESifo Group Munich.
- Francisco Campos-Ortiz & Louis Putterman & T.K. Ahn & Loukas Balafoutas & Mongoljin Batsaikhan & Matthias Sutter, 2012. "Security of property as a public good: Institutions, socio-political environment and experimental behavior in five countries," Working Papers 2012-26, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, University of Innsbruck.
- Campos-Ortiz, Francisco & Putterman, Louis & Ahn, T.K. & Balafoutas, Loukas & Batsaikhan, Mongoljin & Sutter, Matthias, 2012. "Security of Property as a Public Good: Institutions, Socio-Political Environment and Experimental Behavior in Five Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 6982, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Francisco Campos-Ortiz & Louis Putterman & T.K. Ahn & Loukas Balafoutas & Mongoljin Batsaikhan & Matthias Sutter, 2012. "Security of Property as a Public Good: Institutions, Socio-Political Environment and Experimental Behavior in Five Countries," Working Papers 2012-18, Brown University, Department of Economics.
- Simon Gaechter & Benedikt Herrmann & Christian Thöni, 2010.
"Culture and Cooperation,"
CESifo Working Paper Series
3070, CESifo Group Munich.
- Simon Gaechter & Benedikt Herrmann & Christian Thoeni, 2010. "Culture and Cooperation," Discussion Papers 2010-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
- Basher, Syed Abul & Fachin, Stefano, 2011. "The long-run relationship between savings and investment in oil-exporting developing countries: A case study of the Gulf Arab States," MPRA Paper 29077, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- de Meza, David Emmanuel & Irlenbusch, Bernd & Reyniers, Diane, 2010. "Disclosure, Trust and Persuasion in Insurance Markets," IZA Discussion Papers 5060, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
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