Optimistic expectations or other-regarding preferences? Analysing the determinants of trust among association members

Giacomo Degli Antoni () and Gianluca Grimalda

No 2013/21, Working Papers from Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain)

Abstract: We investigate the effect of beliefs and preferences on trust and trustworthiness in the first experiment involving a stratified sample of association members and a demographically comparable sample of non-members. We show that: (1) Neither expectations on others’ behaviour nor risk aversion are relevant to account for members’ significantly higher trust and trustworthiness. Hence, members and non-members must differ in their basic preferences. (2) Expectations account for the lower trust and trustworthiness observed in Southern Italians compared to Northern Italians. This sheds light on two issues of main importance in the social capital literature.

Keywords: Trust; Beliefs; Other-regarding preferences; Voluntary associations; Field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 C91 C93 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 73 pages
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jau:wpaper:2013/21

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