Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP16164
Authors: Armin Falk; Johannes Abeler; Fabian Kosse
Abstract: Reporting private information is a key part of economic decision making. A recent literature has found that many people have a preference for honest reporting, contrary to usual economic assumptions. In this paper, we investigate whether preferences for honesty are malleable and what determines them. We experimentally measure preferences for honesty in a sample of children. As our main result, we provide causal evidence on the effect of the social environment by randomly enrolling children in a year-long mentoring programme. We find that, about four years after the end of the programme, mentored children are significantly more honest.
Keywords: honesty; lying; truthtelling; formation of preferences; experiments with children
JEL Codes: C90; D90; D64; D82; H26; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Participation in a mentoring program (I24) | Increased honesty among children (C92) |
| Control group lies more than treatment group (C92) | Increased honesty among children (C92) |
| Mentoring program serves as a substitute for parental input (I21) | Increased honesty among children (C92) |
| Resources provided by the mentoring program (I23) | Increased honesty among children (C92) |
| Less warm parenting styles (I39) | Increased honesty among children when mentored (C92) |
| Less trusting family environments (J12) | Increased honesty among children when mentored (C92) |