Religious Participation, Trust and Reciprocity: Evidence from Six Latin American Cities

Using data on a trust game played in six Latin American cities, we estimate the relationship between religious participation with trust and reciprocity. We find no association with trust but we do find a statistically significant relation with reciprocity. Individuals more active in religious organizations tend to reciprocate more than individuals who participate less, even though their trustiness on others is about the same as that of less religiously active people.