Henning Finseraas will give a talk based on one of his recent papers entitled “Trust, Ethnic Diversity, and Personal Contact: Experimental Field Evidence”.

Abstract:
We combine a lab and a field experiment to study how close personal contact with minorities affects in-group and out-group trust. Soldiers were randomly assigned to rooms with or without ethnic minorities. At the end of the recruit period we measure trust by using a trust game. We find that close personal contact with minorities increases trust towards a generic immigrant. We replicate the result that individuals coming from areas with a high share of immigrants trust minorities less, but random assignment to interact with minority soldiers removes this negative correlation. We conclude that social integration involving personal contact can remedy the negative effects of ethnic diversity on trust.

For further info contact Carsten Jensen.