Assessing Trust Through Social Capital? A Possible Experimental Answer

Bibliographic Data

ID2804145
AuthorsMatteo Migheli (0000-0001-5051-4462, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume71
Issue2
Pages298-327
Publication date2012-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Economics and Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9246 • E-ISSN: 1536-7150
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1536-7150.2012.00838.x
OpenAlexW1544099266
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited36

Trust is important in economics: several transactions are based on it; unfortunately it is difficult to measure. The recent economic literature on social capital shows a positive association between this concept and trust. As social capital is easier to measure than trust, this paper analyzes the possibility of assessing trust using a measure of social capital. A basic trust game is played in three Western European countries with undergraduate students; a questionnaire measures their level of social capital as time spent within social networks. This measure is stronger and more precise than the ones generally used. The use of an experiment instead of a questionnaire allows for constructing a measure of trust that is continuous in principle. Moreover, to play an experiment allows for observing the behavior of the participants better than by the means of a survey. The results are supportive of the fact that trust can be assessed through social capital, although the presence of a strong geographical effect has to be accounted for

Archaeology · Capital (architecture) · Economics · Epistemology · Geography · Positive economics · Social capital · Social science · Social trust · Sociology · Economic Policies and Impacts · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Capital and Networks · Social Psychology

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