The Effects of Corruption on Teens’ Contributions to the Public Good and the Fight Against COVID-19

Abstract

This study aims to identify the factors that influence teenagers’ likelihood to contribute to the public good during a public health crisis. I hypothesized that students from countries with higher rates of corruption would be less likely to contribute financially and through personal health measures to combat the current COVID-19 pandemic. Using an electronic survey, I gathered data from 276 high school students in seven countries where there are varying levels of corruption. The data includes demographics (age, gender, religiosity), personal COVID-19 remediation behaviors, and answers to two game theory experiments. The two experiments were the Public Goods Game, a classic experiment in behavioral economics, and the Government Trust Game, a variant of my own creation modeled after the Trust Game experiment. Analyses of these data reveal global consistency in teens’ willingness to contribute financially to the public good, regardless of the level of perceived local corruption. However, in more corrupt environments, there exists less trust among teens that their peers will donate as generously, less trust of government to provide a positive return on financial contributions, and less pro-sociality of health behaviors. Additionally, subjects who were more trusting of their community, practiced more pro-social health behaviors. I conclude that teenagers’ financial altruism is not affected by perceived corruption, but trust that others are equally altruistic, and willingness to take pro-social health precautions, is highly dependent on corruption. My results also indicate that the establishment of trust in more corrupt communities may be key in slowing the spread of COVID-19 and future public health crises.