Trust and Reciprocity

Gary Charness and Valentin Shmidov

Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, 2014, vol. 10, issue 3, 167-207

Abstract: This survey explores the contributions of behavioral economics, laboratory experiments, and field experiments to our understanding of the economics of trust, trustworthiness, and reciprocal behavior. A general summary presenting the evolution of trust and reciprocity, departing from pure self-interest in the understanding of "homo economicus", begins the discussion. Next, an exploration of the games and academic contributions that isolate preferences (including social preferences, altruism, inequality aversion, and guilt aversion) from pledges of trust and from reciprocal behavior provides a foundation for behavior that is often misidentified as trust or conditional upon the actions of another. The survey concludes with a summary of theory and experiments that have identified trust and reciprocity in economics and human behavior.

Keywords: Trust; Reciprocity; Human behavior; Preferences; Experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C70 C91 C93 D03 D60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:now:fntmic:0700000065

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