Context dependent cheating: experimental analysis of the determinants of honesty in Buriticá, Colombia

Cheating is a regular action in people’s behavior which produces high costs in society. For this reason, studies on cheating have been motivated in economics and other social sciences. In general, there is an aim to explain which factors are determinants of cheating in order to know how to mitigate its effects. In this context, this research studies the willingness to cheat in Buritica (Antioquia) through an economic field experiment that confirms the presence of dishonesty in the participant’s decisions. In addition, an analysis of the determinants of cheating is made through an Ordered Probit where a causal relation is found between people’s decisions and the context they live in –their perception of wealth, institutional trust and victimization– thus contributing to previous studies on economic decision making that contradict the classical model of maximizing benefits.