Violence, trust, and trustworthiness: evidence from a Nairobi slum

We test with a field experiment in a Nairobi slum whether violence suffered during the 2007 political outbreaks affects trustworthiness when interethnicity becomes salient and participants face opportunism in common pool resource games (CPRGs) between two subsequent trust games (TGs). Our findings do not contradict previous one-shot results but qualify and extend them to a multiperiod setting enriching our understanding on the effects of violence on social preferences. More specifically, victimized exhibit higher trustworthiness in the first trust game but also a significantly stronger trustworthiness reduction after experiencing opportunism and interethnicity in the CPRG game.