Phoning in search of an honest man

"If Diogenes today tried to repeat his search for an honest man, he might want to trade his lantern for a cell phone. And, instead of looking in Athens, he'd do better heading to Ljubljana, Slovenia. And staying away from Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur.

Reader's Digest decided to test the honesty of people around the world, so they had reporters in the largest cities in 32 countries 'lose' 30 cell phones in each location. The reporters then called each phone, and if a passerby picked up the phone and answered, asked if the person would return the phone. If the passerby picked up the phone without answering, they waited to see if the person would call one of the numbers programmed into the phone directory to try to find its owner.

In Ljubljana, smallest of the cities, with a population of about 267,000, 29 of the 30 phones were returned. In Hong Kong and the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, there were a meager 13 returns."

Source: chicagotribune.com