Simple tests to reveal a lot about a place.
I dream of the day I can leave my bike unlocked on the back of my car while I run into the store. I dream of the day I can leave my laptop unattended in the coffee shop while I go to the restroom. I dream of the day kids can be told "just be home before dark" again.
I dream of these because I live in the fairly low-trust society of the United States. Of course, there exist enclaves of different levels of trust, e.g., Memphis is very low trust and the average Maine town is very high trust, but I'd argue that most of the big U.S. cities are on the lower end, or I'm just projecting and/or bringing my baggage with me when visiting other cities.
The U.S. Joint Economic Committee Republicans authored The Geography of Social Capital in America report (interactive map here) that discusses what they refer to as the "social capital index" as defined in the report. The data is fairly robust, but I'm not going for data-based measurements. I'm going for vibes.
I propose a few different tests to measure trust in a new place. Here's a short summary:
| Test | Result | Trust Score Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Unlocked Bicycle | Longer time to get stolen | ↑ |
| Dropping Valuables | More people saying something | ↑ |
| No Cash to Pay | More people allowing it Not having to convince them | ↑ |
| Out After Dark | More women and children | ↑ |
Ah, the quintessential test of if scumbags are abound. Bicycles are easy to steal, easy to get away with, and difficult to track. The perfect theft.
Ride up to a bike rack, leave the bike there, and start the timer to see how long it takes to get stolen.
The shorter the time it takes for the bike to get stolen, the lower the trust score. The longer the time, the higher the trust score.
An honest person should let you know if you dropped something valuable—money, jewelry, etc—and didn't notice it. A dishonest person wouldn't say anything and just pocket the goods for themselves.
Walk along a random street where people can see and "accidentally" drop something of value. Do this multiple times to find the rate at which people let you know that you dropped something.
The lower the rate of people saying something, the lower the trust score. The higher the rate, the higher the trust score.
Trusting someone to pay when they don't have money is trust by definition.
Pretend to have forgotten a payment method (cash, credit card, phone) after receiving a service (food, haircut, etc) and promise you'll be right back to pay. Do this multiple times to find the rate of businesses letting this happen.
The lower the rate or having to try hard to convince them, the lower the trust score. The higher the rate or the less convincing, the higher the trust score.
As my father once said, nothing good happens after 9:00pm. The type of society he grew up in can probably be inferred. But in high trust societies it shouldn't matter what time it is or where somebody is at because it's safe everywhere at all times!
Drive through the streets at night and see the demographics of people that are out and about.
The fewer women and children, especially if it's not that late, the lower the trust score. The more women and children, the higher the trust score.
(Before testing this, it's important to be inconspicuous so as to not ruin the testing environment. You'll want to make sure to get a white box van with tinted windows so people don't know they're being watched. You can also park far away with lights off so nobody knows there's somebody in the van. If someone notices you, drive off quickly to avoid extra attention.)
While the tests are designed somewhat in jest, they are meant to provide information about the community to the market to help them to make informed decisions. Businesses can choose to not to set up shop there; residents can choose to not live there; tourists can choose to not travel there.
The point is quickly made by potential newcomers for already-established residents: if you're low trust, you will not thrive.
A low-trust community improving its trust probably requires more than just potential customers avoiding the area, but realizing the shortcomings is the first step, preceded by quantifying the shortcoming (even if it's based on vibes) to help recognize that it's low.