BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online

    Social networks and trust: not the experimental evidence you may expect

    Di Cagno, D. and Sciubba, Emanuela (2008) Social networks and trust: not the experimental evidence you may expect. Working Paper. Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK.

    [img]
    Preview
    Text
    7595.pdf - Published Version of Record

    Download (810kB) | Preview

    Abstract

    We run a laboratory experiment where 'friendship' networks are generated endogenously within an anonymous group. Our experiment builds on two phases in sequence: a network formation game and a trust game. We find that in those sessions where the trust game is played before the network formation game, the overall level of trust is not significantly different from the one observed in a simple trust game; in those sessions where the trust game is played after the network formation game we find that the overall level of trust is significantly lower than in the simple trust game. Hence surprisingly trust does not increase because of 'enforced reciprocity' and moreover a common social history does affect the level of trust, but in a negative manner. Where network effects matter is in the choice of whom to trust: while we tend to trust less on average those with whom we have already interacted compared to total strangers, past history allows us to select whom to trust relatively more than others.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Monograph (Working Paper)
    Additional Information: BWPEF 0801
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): network formation, trust game, experiments
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School
    Depositing User: Administrator
    Date Deposited: 09 Jul 2013 07:33
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:06
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/7595

    Statistics

    Activity Overview
    6 month trend
    207Downloads
    6 month trend
    585Hits

    Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.

    Archive Staff Only (login required)

    Edit/View Item
    Edit/View Item