Culture and gender differences in honesty

Caroline Graf (), Andreas Pondorfer () and Jonathan Schulz
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Caroline Graf: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences, Netherlands
Andreas Pondorfer: TU Munich, TUM Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainablity & TUM School of Management, Germany

Munich Papers in Political Economy from Munich School of Politics and Public Policy and the School of Management at the Technical University of Munich

Abstract: Gender differences in preferences play a crucial role in shaping economic outcomes. This study examines cross-societal variation in gender differences in honesty, testing whether they reflect innate traits or are shaped by social norms. Using global experimental and survey data, we find that gender differences in honesty emerge primarily in Western societies, where women report stronger honesty norms than men, while such differences are absent in non-Western societies. Additional evidence shows that gender differences in honesty norms are transmitted across generations and narrow as countries become wealthier. These patterns suggest that gender differences in honesty are better explained by socialization rather than innate traits.

Keywords: honesty; gender differences; socialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D91 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 83 pages
Date: 2025-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-gen and nep-soc
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aiw:wpaper:45

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