Inter-ethnic trust and reciprocity: Results of an experiment with small business entrepreneurs

We experimentally investigate inter-ethnic trust and reciprocity by letting subjects from distinct ethnic origins play the trust game (Berg, Dickhaut, and McCabe, 1995). The participants in the experiment are male small business entrepreneurs of Turkish or Belgian ethnic origin, all of whom have a business in the same city (Ghent, Belgium). Our main finding is that the average levels of trust and reciprocity are independent of ethnic origin and, moreover, independent of the ethnic origin of the counterparty.