Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/207626 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper Series No. 650
Publisher: 
University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
Abstract: We study the impact of unjust inequality on social trust and trustworthiness, and its separate effect on the economically successful and the unsuccessful, in a controlled economic experiment. We find evidence for a negative effect of unfair economic inequality on social interactions. Probing the boundaries of this effect, we document that this erosion of social capital critically depends on the context: if a well-off person is not directly responsible for the outcome of the worse-off person, then we observe no negative effects on trust and trustworthiness in the aggregate. Moreover, our data do not support the view that higher status or wealth leads to an erosion of pro-social attitudes: the successful are always more generous; groups of unsuccessful persons are least efficient and least generous in the trust game.
Subjects: 
inequality
fairness
social capital
JEL: 
C91
D31
D63
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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