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Honesty and beliefs about honesty in 15 countries

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  • David Hugh-Jones

    (University of East Anglia)

Abstract

The honesty of resident nationals of 15 countries was measured in two experiments: reporting a coin flip with a reward for "heads", and an online quiz with the possibility of cheating. There are large differences in honesty across countries. Average honesty correlates with per capita GDP: this relationship is driven mostly by GDP differences arising before 1950, rather than by GDP growth since 1950, suggesting that the growth-honesty relationship was more important in earlier periods than today. The experiment also elicited participants' beliefs about honesty in different countries. Beliefs were not correlated with reality. Instead they appear to be driven by cognitive biases, including self-projection.

Suggested Citation

  • David Hugh-Jones, 2015. "Honesty and beliefs about honesty in 15 countries," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2015-01, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    • Handle: RePEc:uea:ueaeco:2015_01
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Christoph Engel, 2016. "Experimental Criminal Law. A Survey of Contributions from Law, Economics and Criminology," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2016_07, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    2. Sanjit Dhami, 2017. "Human Ethics and Virtues: Rethinking the Homo-Economicus Model," CESifo Working Paper Series 6836, CESifo.
    3. Johannes Abeler & Daniele Nosenzo & Collin Raymond, 2019. "Preferences for Truth‐Telling," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(4), pages 1115-1153, July.
    4. Singh, Varsha & Chakravarty, Sujoy, 2021. "Is Deception a Consequence of Emotion? Disposition, Mood, and Decision Frame," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Polterovich, Victor, 2016. "Позитивное Сотрудничество: Факторы И Механизмы Эволюции [Positive Collaboration: Factors and Mechanisms of Evolution]," MPRA Paper 73448, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Polterovich, Victor, 2017. "Positive collaboration: Factors and mechanisms of evolution," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 24-41.

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