New Yorkers: cynical, rushed, busy -- but honest

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Ever wondered what would happen if you lost your wallet in a big city? If it happened in New York, chances are you would get it back.

New Yorkers may have a reputation as being busy, cynical and tough but most will take the time and effort to find the owner of a lost wallet, according to a new study.

"It is tough in New York, but it's not as lonely a struggle as sometimes we feel it is," said Gregory Smithsimon, a professor of urban studies at Barnard College.

To test just how helpful New Yorkers really are, Smithsimon sent his students out on the city streets where they dropped wallets containing some money, an old travel pass, and business cards at varied locations to see whether they would be returned.

The results astounded them all.

In 132 drops from the Bronx to Brooklyn, the wallet was stolen only two percent of the time. In 82 percent of the cases it was returned. In 13 percent of cases the wallet was not seen or ignored and was left where it had been dropped, while in the remainder someone had tried to return it but failed.

People ran down streets and even missed trains in an attempt to return the wallet. Sometimes it was a joint effort with more than one person trying to locate the owner.

Carolyn Braff, one of the students who took part in the study, said people were much more willing to go out of their way to help others than she had previously assumed.

"Every trial we did outside, someone made some attempt to get our attention. People ran (after) us down the block holding the wallets behind them," she said in an interview.

But the researchers said one of the riskiest places to lose a wallet was on the Upper East Side -- one of the most expensive areas in the city.

The researchers had two wallets taken in the area after barely completing half of the drops.

Smithsimon said that not only did they not get the wallets back, but the people behaved differently compared to most New Yorkers.

"These folks just scooped it up and kept going, there wasn't a break in their steps, they just seamlessly picked it up and kept walking," Smithsimon said in an interview.

The study seems to have changed the students' views of New York and its residents.

"I can't believe how nice people are," said Braff.