What is Social Capital? The Determinants of Trust and Trustworthiness

Edward Glaeser, David Laibson, Jose A. Scheinkman and Christine L. Soutter

No 7216, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using a sample of Harvard undergraduates, we analyze trust and social capital in two experiments. Trusting behavior and trustworthiness rise with social connection; differences in race and nationality reduce the level of trustworthiness. Certain individuals appear to be persistently more trusting, but these people do not say they are more trusting in surveys. Survey questions about trust predict trustworthiness not trust. Only children are less trustworthy. People behave in a more trustworthy manner towards higher status individuals, and therefore status increases earnings in the experiment. As such, high status persons can be said to have more social capital.

JEL-codes: C9 D7 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cdm and nep-exp
Note: LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (59)

Published as "Measuring Trust," Edward L. Glaeser, David Laibson, Jose A. Scheinkman, and Christine L. Soutter, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 65, August 2000, pp . 811-846.

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Working Paper: What is Social Capital? The Determinants of Trust and Trustworthiness (1999)
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