Is Mistrust Self-Fulfilling?

We study experimentally the effect of expectations on whether trust is repaid. Subjects respond with untrustworthy behavior if they see that little is expected of them. This suggests that guilt aversion plays an important role in the repayment of trust.

The final version of this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2009.04.007.