A note on the theory and measurement of trust in explaining differences in economic growth

2005/08/08 by Sjoerd Beugelsdijk · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Culture, Economy, and Development Studies #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Social Capital and Networks

paper · doi:10.1093/cje/bei064

openalex publication_date 2005/08/08 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

This paper takes issue with the trend to attribute differences in economic growth rates to differences in interpersonal trust. I discuss the World Values Survey (WVS) measure that is used to operationalise trust at the macro level. I hypothesise that there is a mismatch between the theoretical argument and the empirical operationalisation of trust. Instead of measuring trust, the WVS measure may instead proxy the well-functioning of institutions. I provide circumstantial evidence for this thesis by a principal components analysis of trust and institutions and a robustness test of Zak and Knack's (2001. Trust and growth, Economic Journal, vol. 111, 295–321) seminal study on trust and economic growth.

Citations

• The Sources and Consequences of Embeddedness for the Economic Performance of Organizations: The Network Effect
• Is Social Capital Declining in the United States? A Multiple Indicator Assessment
• The Nature of the Firm
• The Evolution of Cooperation
• Where Do Interorganizational Networks Come From?
• AFFECT- AND COGNITION-BASED TRUST AS FOUNDATIONS FOR INTERPERSONAL COOPERATION IN ORGANIZATIONS.

Cited by

• Cultural economics [wikipedia]