Trust, Trustworthiness, and Age: Experimental Evidence

Journal of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 241

19 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2019 Last revised: 15 Jul 2022

See all articles by Moritz Lukas

Moritz Lukas

University of Hamburg

Markus Noeth

University of Hamburg

Date Written: November 23, 2020

Abstract

Based on an incentivized non-anonymous trust game with 230 elementary school pupils aged between 6 and 11 years, we investigate the development of trust and trustworthiness across age groups. Trust increases with age, thereby increasing the profits of both the trustor and the trustee. The trustee keeps most of the profits. These results replicate the findings of Sutter and Kocher (2007) in that trust increases with age and trustworthiness exists in all age groups that are examined in our study; however, the amounts transferred between subjects in our experiment are substantially higher, a result which is likely to be driven by the non-anonymity in our setting.

Keywords: Trust, Trustworthiness, Age, Experiment

JEL Classification: C72, C91

Suggested Citation

Lukas, Moritz and Noeth, Markus, Trust, Trustworthiness, and Age: Experimental Evidence (November 23, 2020). Journal of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 241, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3465596 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3465596

Moritz Lukas (Contact Author)

University of Hamburg ( email )

Allende-Platz 1
Hamburg, 20146
Germany

Markus Noeth

University of Hamburg ( email )

Chair of Banking and Behavioral Finance
WiSo
Hamburg, 20146
Germany
+49-40-42838 3337 (Phone)
+49-40-42838 5512 (Fax)

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