We conduct trust games in three villages in a northeastern Romanian commune. From 1775–1919, these villages were arbitrarily assigned to opposite sides of the Austrian and Ottoman/Russian border despite being located seven kilometers apart. This plausibly exogenous border assignment affected local institutions and late-18th century migration in a manner that likely also affected trust. Conditional on trust norms being affected by these centuries-old historical circumstances, our experimental design tests the degree to which such norms are transmitted intergenerationally. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that participants on the Austrian side that also have family roots in the village are indeed more likely to trust outsiders.

我们在罗马尼亚东北部公社的三个村庄进行信任游戏。从 1775 年到 1919 年，这些村庄被任意分配到奥地利和奥斯曼/俄罗斯边界的两侧，尽管相距 7 公里。这种看似外生的边界分配影响了地方机构和 18 世纪后期的移民，其方式可能也影响了信任。在信任规范受到这些百年历史环境影响的条件下，我们的实验设计测试了这些规范代际传递的程度。与理论预测一致，我们发现在村里也有家庭根源的奥地利一方的参与者确实更可能信任外人。