The effect of social distancing on trust and solidarity

This paper investigates the effect of social distancing on behavioral traits (trust, trustworthiness, and solidarity) that are important in interpersonal relationships. Toward this goal, we exploit the exogenous manipulation of social distancing provided by the different timing of stay-at-home orders issued in New York and Arizona during the COVID-19 outbreak. The experimental design also entails a between-subject manipulation in order to distinguish In-group vs. Out-group effects. The results show a positive In-group effect on trust, robust to the degree of compliance to the treatment, while we do not find evidence of significant effects on the other behavioral traits.