Is There Hope after Despair? An Analysis of Trust among China's Cultural Revolution Survivors

Max Tani, Zhiming Cheng and Benno Torgler ()
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Benno Torgler: Queensland University of Technology

No 15888, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the long-term effects of the Cultural Revolution, characterised by widespread violence, summary executions and chaos, on a set of trust outcomes among people surveyed by the China Survey in 2008. We find that the revolution, identified by cohort-specific exposure to excess deaths at the county level, has a significant long-term impact on trust. However, the effects differ according to the relationship considered. Overall, trust emerges as a binder between an individual and his/her friends and relatives, but as a divisive force between the same person and those with whom one may compete with (e.g., co-workers) and unknown or less known others (e.g., those living in the same town). As the revolution occurred more than four decades prior to the China Survey, the results do not support viewing the sole passing of time as an effective cure to recover from a prolonged traumatic experience.

Keywords: inside-outside groups; Cultural Revolution; trust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Economic Modelling, 2023, 121, 106218

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Journal Article: Is there hope after despair? An analysis of trust among China's Cultural Revolution survivors (2023)
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