In a novel experimental design, we investigate the impact of exogenous variation in economic growth and inequality on trusting behaviour. In addition to a control with uniform endowment, three treatments were implemented where the initial endowment is exogenously changed to produce inequality and three growth scenarios where average endowments increase (boom), decrease (recession) or remain unaltered (steady state). We find that aggregate trust and trustworthiness both decrease due to the induced heterogeneity in endowments. Also, trust (but not trustworthiness) decreases (increases) due to recessions (booms). The impact of inequality on trust is greatest in a recession and absent in a boom. These aggregate effects are driven mainly by the reactions of those who, after treatment, end up at the bottom of the endowment distribution. These findings are close in sign and in the order of magnitude to those reported in observational studies on the relationship between growth, inequality and trust.

在一项新颖的实验设计中，我们研究了经济增长和不平等对信任行为的外生变化的影响。除了具有统一禀赋的控制外，还实施了三种处理方法，其中初始禀赋被外生改变以产生不平等，以及平均禀赋增加（繁荣）、减少（衰退）或保持不变（稳定状态）的三种增长情景。我们发现，由于禀赋的诱导异质性，总体信任度和可信度都降低了。此外，由于经济衰退（繁荣），信任（但不是可信度）会降低（增加）。不平等对信任的影响在衰退时最大，而在繁荣时则没有。这些综合效应主要是由那些在治疗后最终处于禀赋分布底部的人的反应驱动的。