Honest Kiwis: Money inside ensures lost wallets returned in New Zealand

New Zealand is one of the best countries in the world to lose your wallet if it has some money in it - because people are more likely to return it with cash inside. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand is one of the best countries to lose your wallet in, according to a recent study on honesty.

The study, published in the American-based Science Magazine this week, looked at civic honesty across 40 countries.

It found people who discovered lost wallets were more likely to report them if there was money inside the wallet. There was a high reporting rate in New Zealand.

The amount inside was US$13.45, the equivalent of just over NZ$20.

"Citizens displayed greater civic honesty when the wallets contained money, but perhaps this is because the amount was not large enough to be financially meaningful."

New Zealand's reporting rate jumped from more than 60 per cent for a wallet with no money to more than 80 per cent for a wallet that contained money.

When the amounts were bumped up to US$94.15 (NZ$142.88) in the United States, United Kingdom and Poland the rate of reporting increased.

The authors conducted field experiments to examine whether people acted more dishonestly when they had a greater economic incentive to do so, and found the opposite to be true.

"Citizens were more likely to return wallets that contained relatively larger amounts of money," the authors said.

A great study of impersonal honesty using the lost wallet paradigm in 355 cities spanning 40 countries (17,000 lost wallets). Big variation across cities, but (almost) everywhere people were MORE likely to return the wallet when it had MORE money in it. @MichelAMarechal pic.twitter.com/I4RyyAp2Sg

— Joe Henrich (@JoHenrich) June 20, 2019

"This finding is robust across countries and institutions, and holds even when economic incentives for dishonesty are substantial."

When asked, respondents reported that failing to return a wallet would feel more like stealing when the wallet contained a modest amount of money than when it contained no money.

Such behaviour would feel even more like stealing when the wallet contained a substantial amount of money.

The results were consistent with theories that incorporate altruism and self-image concerns.

"When people stand to heavily profit from engaging in dishonest behaviour, the desire to cheat increases but so do the psychological costs of viewing oneself as a thief - and sometimes the latter will dominate the former."