海角大神

Researchers who study honesty in societies have just found a gold mine of virtue in Japan.

In the seven months since an earthquake and tsunami destroyed entire Japanese communities, some $78 million in cash has been found in the piles of debris. Most was returned to the rightful owners. In one case, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, a woman found a purse with $26,000 in yen notes and turned it in.

Japan鈥檚 culture of honesty is well known and helps account for that country鈥檚 past economic success. In Tokyo, experiments are often conducted by leaving wallets filled with cash around the city and then counting how many wallets are returned, along with the money. The numbers are astonishingly high.

Such lessons in honesty are important as America and Europe try to recover from their economic woes. In large part, those woes were caused by giant lapses in honesty.

In America鈥檚 case, the recent housing bubble was driven in part by people who lied about their finances to obtain home mortgages or who knew they had little chance of paying them back. Equally bad, these 鈥渓iar鈥檚 loans鈥� were then knowingly sold to investors by agents who knew such mortgages were 鈥渢oxic.鈥� Even now, many banks are reluctant to admit the real value of their mortgage assets 鈥� a big uncertainty that hangs over financial markets.

In Europe, the great fib occurred in Greece. It cooked its books on its fiscal deficit.

When it joined the euro community over a decade ago, Greece promised to follow the rule of not letting its deficit exceed 3 percent of its gross domestic product. But it lied to foreign investors, such as French banks. Its deficit was three times that amount.

Fortunately, when George Papandreou became prime minister in 2009, he exposed the lie. And he has worked to restore transparency in Greece鈥檚 accounting.

A similar cleansing is under way in the United States as the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act forces both homeowners and the mortgage industry to become more open and honest about borrowing. Those liar loans, for example, are disappearing with the law鈥檚 requirement that agents who bundle mortgages for investors must retain at least 5 percent of the assets.

Honesty is a key measure of the 鈥渟ocial capital鈥� essential to a healthy economy. Numerous studies show successful economies rely on people going beyond simply being honest out of fear of being caught or because of incentives to be honest. 鈥淯nselfish鈥� honesty in which people act out of principle is also significant. It leads to more personal cooperation and fewer legal contracts. It allows greater efficiency and creativity.

Using the World 海角大神 Survey, researchers find a direct link between economic well-being and a society鈥檚 level of trust between individuals. In the US, trustworthiness has been in decline over recent decades, according to studies.

While more regulation may force honest behavior in the economy, it can also burden progress by creating disincentives for creating new jobs and new businesses. A proper balance is needed.

America and Europe must work harder on their 鈥渉onesty deficit鈥� as well as solve the more obvious economic problems. Japan鈥檚 post-tsunami display of honesty is a reminder of how much that virtue is a glue for society as well as a driver for growth.