Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/319091 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17822
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Trust plays a crucial role in refugees' integration. This study examines how social information about trust levels among peers from home and host countries affects non-Western refugees' trust. Using a trust game, we measured experimentally trust levels among Swiss citizens, Turkish refugees, and Afghan refugees. We found that Turkish refugees exhibited higher trust levels than Afghan refugees, but no significant trust differences were found between Swiss participants and either refugee group. Turkish refugees adjusted their trust to match Swiss levels when receiving social information, but observation by compatriots reduced this effect. By contrast, Afghan refugees exhibited a more limited response to social information, except when told their behavior would be revealed, which led them to align more closely with Swiss trust levels. These findings highlight the complex impact of social information on refugee trust behavior and suggest that trust can be a social norm.
Subjects: 
social information
trust
refugees
lab-in-the-field experiment
JEL: 
C91
D83
D91
F22
J61
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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