What is Social Capital? The Determinants of Trust and Trustworthiness

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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.

Published: "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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