Recession experiences during early adulthood shape prosocial attitudes later in life

The research article by Jan Bietenbeck, Uwe Sunde, and Petra Thiemann is now published in Journal of Public Economics!

We asked economist Uwe Sunde to share their key insights.

Discover how recession experiences during early adulthood shape prosocial attitudes later in life.

This is a publication that belongs to the CRC Project A07.

What does prosociality mean and why is it relevant for Economists?

Prosociality means caring about others and acting in ways that help or support them — like being generous, returning favors, or trusting people. These traits are key to how we get along and work together in everyday life. For economists, prosocial attitudes matter because they influence how people act in markets, how they respond to rules or rewards, and whether they’re willing to support things like public services. Understanding prosociality helps us grasp the behavioral foundations of economic systems and policies.

When is this personality trait formed in life and which factors are key in this process?

Social psychology has shown that early adulthood — roughly ages 18 to 25 — is a formative period for shaping attitudes, including prosociality. During this phase, individuals are particularly open to change and begin forming their social and economic identities. They transition into independence, engage with peers in new settings, start working, vote, and participate in civic life. Experiences during this period — including economic shocks like recessions — can leave lasting imprints on prosocial behavior.

How do you measure the effect of recession experiences on prosocial attitudes?

We base our study on data from the Global Preferences Survey, which includes responses from about 64,000 people across 74 countries. To measure prosociality, we look at three key traits: altruism, reciprocity, and trust. These were assessed using survey questions that have been carefully validated in previous research. We then combine the three into one overall measure of prosociality.

To track whether someone experienced a recession in early adulthood, we use historical economic data that shows whether the economy in their country shrank while they were between 18 and 25 years old. We compare individuals across generations and countries to examine whether experiencing a recession during a critical life stage has a lasting impact on their prosocial attitudes later in life.

Could you share some key findings from your study?

We find that going through a recession in early adulthood is associated with lower levels of prosociality later in life. The impact on trust is small and not statistically meaningful. Instead, the overall drop in prosociality seems to come from people being less altruistic and less willing to return favors — in other words, less reciprocal.

More broadly, we see that experiencing at least one year of economic decline between the ages of 18 and 25 leads to a noticeable drop in prosocial behavior later in life. The effect is not just statistically significant — it is also meaningful in real terms. It corresponds to 55 percent of the gender gap in prosociality between men and women. Moreover, it corresponds to 30 percent of the average difference in prosociality between households above and below the median household income in a country.

Is it possible that these results are driven by other factors, like exposure to democratic institutions?

Yes, we were also wondering about that and looked into experiences with institutions. In fact, we find that experiencing democracy during early adulthood is associated with higher prosociality. However, this effect is independent of the recession effect. Even when we control for democratic exposure, the impact of recessions remains unchanged. So, both variables matter for prosociality, but in distinct ways.

What would you say is the main contribution of your research?
This paper presents novel evidence that experiencing a recession during early adulthood persistently affects prosocial attitudes. While these experiences cannot be undone, understanding them helps explain long-term differences in prosociality across individuals and populations. Since prosociality influences support for social policies like welfare or public goods, our findings offer a new perspective on the roots of economic and political preferences across demographic groups.

Read the article: Jan Bietenbeck, Uwe Sunde, and Petra Thiemann: Recession experiences during early adulthood shape prosocial attitudes later in life In: Journal of Public Economics