Trust among the poor: African Americans trust their neighbors, but are less trusting of public officials

Abstract

Abstract Many studies document a decline in citizens' interpersonal trust and trust in the US government, particularly among African Americans. Furthermore, survey research consistently shows that African Americans exhibit some of the lowest levels of trust in the US population. Trust is essential for understanding the relationship between African Americans and government, such as the impacts of documented criminal justice disparities for low-income minorities. Using a lab-in-the-field experiment, we study a behavioral measure of trust, targeting a population of low-income African Americans in an urban US zip code with a disproportionately high level of law enforcement for low-level offenses (e.g., disorderly conduct). In the incentivized trust games, we vary the characteristics of the matched counterpart (i.e., a public official or a neighbor). Contrary to the existing survey evidence, we see that African Americans' levels of interpersonal trust and trustworthiness in the game are considerably higher than a college student sample. However, trust in and trustworthiness toward local public officials is significantly lower than trust among neighbors. We conclude that the poor may be more trusting than inferred previously from conventional survey data, but that trust does not carry over to government officials.