Abstract:
We use the investment game introduced by Berg, Dickhaut and McCabe (1995) to explore
gender differences in trust and reciprocity. In doing so we replicate and extend the
results first reported by Croson and Buchan (1999). We find that men exhibit greater
trust than women do while women show higher levels of reciprocity. Trusting behavior
is driven strongly by expectations of reciprocation. We posit that the lower levels
of trust exhibited by women may be attributed to a higher degree of risk
aversion.