tartantambourine:

John Bingham of Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports:

Members of the upper classes are more likely to lie, cheat and even break the law than people from less privileged backgrounds, a study has found.

In contrast, members of the “lower” classes appeared more likely to display the traditional attributes of a gentleman. …

[P]sychologists at the University of California in Berkeley, who carried out the study, also suggested that the findings could help explain the origins of the banking crisis – with self-confident, wealthy bankers more likely to indulge in reckless behaviour.

Some factors sound like they’re missing:

1. Poor people tend to be more likely to suffer consequences, and tend to get harsher punishment. This is a deterrence.

2. Rich people tend to have power. This puts them in a position where it is easier to cheat.

3. Poor communities sometimes suffer from crab bucket: the idea that poor = virtue and so they can willingly forgo ambition and personal gain for an abstract sense of worth.