Researchers found citizens of some countries are more honest than others, but honesty is less important for a country's economic growth than it has been in the past.
The findings show that while honesty is varied across every country, some have a higher tendency towards honesty than others, the University of East Anglia reported.
"Differences in honesty were found between countries, but this did not necessarily correspond to what people expected," said David Hugh-Jones, a senior lecturer in economics. "Beliefs about honesty seem to be driven by psychological features, such as self-projection. Surprisingly, people were more pessimistic about the honesty of people in their own country than of people in other countries. One explanation for this could be that people are more exposed to news stories about dishonesty taking place in their own country than in others."
To make their findings, a team of researchers conducted an online survey of over 15,000 participants from 15 different countries. The test included two incentivized experiments designed to measure honesty. In the first experiment the participants were asked to flip a coin and state whether it had landed on "heads" or "tails." If they reported that it had landed on heads they would receive either $3 or $5. If the number of people reporting heads for a given country was over 50 percent in a given country, it meant some people were being dishonest. The participants were then asked to complete a music quiz, and were given a financial reward if they answered honestly. They were asked not to search the answers on the internet, and tick a box confirming they had not done so. Three of the questions were intentionally made so difficult that it was unlikely the participant would be able to answer correctly without performing an internet search, so answering more than one of these correctly indicated cheating.
The study included residents of: "Brazil, China, Greece, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States, Argentina, Denmark, the United Kingdom, India, Portugal, South Africa, and South Korea."
Estimated dishonesty in the coin flip ranged from 3.4 percent in the U.K. to 70 percent in China. In the quiz, Japan was the most truthful followed by the U.K., while Turkey scored the lowest on the honesty scale. The four least truthful countries on the coin flip test were China, Japan, South Korea and India. The researchers noted the reason for these low scores could be due to cultural norms regarding gambling, and might not be a true test of honesty.
Participants were also asked to predict the average honesty of those from other countries by guessing how many respondents out of 100 would answer truthfully. The researchers found these answers rarely reflected reality. People expected Greece to be extremely dishonest, but it was one of the most honest on the coin flip test and ranked in the middle on the quiz. Greece and China were the most pessimistic about members of their own country, and less honest respondents tended to be the most pessimistic about others' honesty.
The researchers found that poor countries have tended to be less honest than rich countries, but this relationship was less important for economic growth than it was before 1950.
"I suggest that the relationship between honesty and economic growth has been weaker over the past 60 years and there is little evidence for a link between current growth and honesty," Hugh-Jones said. "One explanation is that when institutions and technology are underdeveloped, honesty is important as a substitute for formal contract enforcement. Countries that develop cultures putting a high value on honesty are able to reap economic gains. Later, this economic growth itself improves institutions and technology, making contracts easier to monitor and enforce, so that a culture of honesty is no longer necessary for further growth."
Hugh-Jones also suggests people's beliefs about the honesty of citizens of their own country could affect how they interact. For example, a country's willingness to support debt bailouts could be affected by their perceptions of their country's honesty.
The findings were presented at the London Experimental Workshop.
Read the full study HERE.
