Can we infer social preferences from the lab? Evidence from the trust game

Nicole M. Baran, Paola Sapienza, Luigi Zingales

NBER Working Paper No. 15654
Issued in January 2010
NBER Program(s):   EEE   IO   PE

We show that a measure of reciprocity derived from the Berg et al. (1995) trust game in a laboratory setting predicts the reciprocal behavior of the same subjects in a real-world situation. By using the Crowne and Marlowe (1960) social desirability scale, we do not find any evidence that a desire to conform to social norms distorts results in the lab, yet we do find evidence that it affects results in the field.

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Acknowledgments

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