FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ) — If you accidentally received a card containing $20, would you return it?
According to the findings of a Dutch experiment, recently published in the National Bureau of Economic Research, the answer likely depends on how much money you already have.
180 households classified as wealthy, and 180 homes deemed poor, were sent a phony greeting card from a grandfather to a grandson, which contained money.
The wealthy households were more than two times as likely to return the card, 81 percent, compared to 38 percent, of poor households.
Researchers say the test indicates that the rich often behave more “pro-socially,” although that doesn’t necessarily mean that the poor are less honest, given the difference in financial pressures.
