On changes in general trust in Europe

Javier Olivera

No 201301, Working Papers from Geary Institute, University College Dublin

Abstract: This paper analyses the determinants of trust in a pool of 33 European countries over the period 2002-2010. We find that income inequality is negatively related with trust when we analyse pooled data of individuals, which is a well established result if one focuses on crosscountry differences. But, this relation vanishes when we estimate a fixed effects model with the data collapsed by country and year. Omitted variables may account for the significant and negative relationship between economic inequality and trust at the cross-sectional level. In contrast, we find a sizeable, negative and significant effect of the share of persons from minority ethnic groups on trust. This result is found in different specifications for the trust index and distribution of trust.

Keywords: Trust; Income Inequality; Europe; Social Attitudes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 D63 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2013-01-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-evo and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201301

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