Reader’s Digest carried out ‘The lost wallet study’ experiment to analyze the honesty in 16 global hubs, which included major cities like Madrid, London, Amsterdam, New York, Mumbai and Helsinki. What came out as a pleasant surprise for many was that Mumbai turned out to be the world’s second most honest city after Helsinki.
The Experiment
The lost wallet test is one of the most popular methods to evaluate honesty. There have been many instances in the past where people have handed the misplaced wallets to their rightful owners. In an attempt to find the most honest cities in the world a recent study was carried out based on a similar experiment. In an interesting turn, Mumbai bagged the prestigious honour of being the second most honest city in the world.
Mumbai India 🇮🇳 and Helsinki Finland 🇫🇮 are the most honest cities in the world. pic.twitter.com/HaBTPiIz3Y
— Erik Solheim (@ErikSolheim) September 11, 2021
In an experiment performed by Reader’s Digest, a handbag with a cell phone number, a family photo and money equivalent to $50 or Rs 4,000 was dropped at various locations. The goal of the experiment was to find out how many items in the handbag were returned by individuals.
The most honest city was awarded to Helsinki where 11 handbags were returned out of the dozen that was dropped as a part of the experiment. With nine handbags returned out of the twelve, Mumbai was placed at the second position which was followed by, Budapest with people returning eight out of the 12 handbags. As per the survey, Lisbon was the least honest metropolis, with only one handbag being returned, and that too by a tourist couple from the Netherlands.
Mahindra took over Twitter by storm
Industrialist Anand Mahindra was overwhelmed with the results of the study and took to his Twitter to share the same. He stated, “very gratified to see the results.” He added that Mumbai’s outcome in terms of honesty would have been even more spectacular if the relative revenue levels of the cities were factored in the experiment.
He wrote; “Not surprised, but certainly very gratified to see the results of this experiment. And if you factor in the relative levels of income in each country, Mumbai’s outcome is even more impressive!”
Not surprised, but certainly very gratified to see the results of this experiment. And if you factor in the relative levels of income in each country, Mumbai’s outcome is even more impressive! https://t.co/uUdmhro7xC
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) September 15, 2021
Mahindra’s tweet went viral on Twitter, receiving over 2900 likes until today. Twitter users started sharing their own experiences within the city of dreams.
One Twitter user tweeted; “Lost my wallet in Bangalore got it 8 months later when the finder came to Mumbai to visit his brother. Everything intact. My address was on the driving license & he didn’t trust the post. I was shocked. Left it with the help while I was at work. I am very grateful”
Lost my wallet in Bangalore got it 8 months later when the finder came to Mumbai to visit his brother. Everything intact. My address was on the driving license & he didn’t trust the post. I was shocked. Left it with the help while I was at work. I am very grateful
— Sonal Ramnathkar (@Cool_Druid) September 11, 2021
Another user tweeted; “They are still finding the man who went to drop the wallet in Pakistan”
https://twitter.com/gyanjarahatke/status/1438221698889764866?s=20
Another user tweeted; “My father lost his wallet in Vadodara city and after 1 day, he got call and that person came to my home and returned wallet with full amount, documents, etc…”
“exactly…Mumbai (Mumbai) the best city. even a single rupee they pay back .Every Indian should work atleast for a week there to learn how to maintain TIME.” Another user wrote.
exactly…Bombay (Mymbai) the best city.even a single rupee they pay back .Every Indian should work atleast for a week there to learn how to maintain TIME.
— லால்விவேக்.Lal Vivek (@lalvivek) September 11, 2021
Now talking about the crimes against women, as per the latest report published last year by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), there was a 21.1 per cent decline in crime rate in metropolitan cities in India, as compared to the previous year. Mumbai registered a considerable decline, with 4,583 cases recorded in 2020 as compared to 6,519 cases in 2019.
It is really interesting to note that although Mumbai might be a city of Gunda Raj and riots yet humble and honest people still exist in the metropolitan city. As per the experiment, Mumbai is a city with the third-largest slum in the world, and the per capita income of Mumbai is way below the other international cities in the experiment, yet it still stood second representing India in a spectrum of honesty at the international level.
