A study by the University of Michigan found that wallets with cash were more likely to be returned than those without. When $100 bills were placed in wallets, 72% were returned compared to 46% without cash. The reasons for this could be altruism or not wanting to be seen as a thief. In other money-related facts, US $100 bills are green for durability, two-thirds of them are believed to be abroad, and paper money can hold the flu virus for over two weeks.
You walk down the street and find a wallet with a 100 dollar bill inside: what do you do? As surprising as that sounds, most people would hand it over. In a worldwide research effort led by a team at the University of Michigan, 17,000 wallets were “lost” in 40 countries over the course of two years. Some had the equivalent of $13 USD in them, along with an assortment of business cards and the like, and some had no cash. Universally, wallets with cash were delivered more often than those without. Finding their results hard to record, the team dropped another batch of wallets in the US, UK and Poland – only this time, the money loaded into the wallets contained $100 rather than $13. The results were astonishing : 72 percent of cash wallets were returned, compared to 46 percent of those without cash. Speculating about what was going on, the team came up with two main theories. First, it could be altruism at work; that is, people have decent hearts and want to do the right thing. The other possibility? People don’t want to see themselves as thieves. It’s one thing not to hand over an empty wallet, but what about you if you hold one with $100 in it?
Show me the money:
American paper money is green because green has the qualities of being resistant to flaking, fading, and discoloration.
Two-thirds of all US $100 bills ever printed cannot be accounted for; they are believed to be abroad.
Paper money is considered dirtier than a regular toilet and can hold the flu virus for more than two weeks.
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