The COVID-19 pandemic reduces trust behavior

Jianbiao Li; Yanan Zhang; Xiaofei Niu

doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109700

The COVID-19 pandemic reduces trust behavior

Econ Lett. 2021 Feb:199:109700. doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109700. Epub 2020 Dec 17.

Authors

Jianbiao Li^{1

2

3}, Yanan Zhang¹, Xiaofei Niu¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics, Institute for Study of Brain-Like Economics, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
² Nankai University Binhai College, Tianjin, China.
³ China Academy of Corporate Governance, Business School, Reinhard Selten Laboratory, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

We conduct an online experiment before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in China with four sampling waves and test the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on trust behavior. We find that COVID-19 pandemic reduces trust behavior. Belief in others' trustworthiness is one potential mechanism underlying the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on trust behavior.

Keywords: Belief in others’ trustworthiness; COVID-19; Trust.