Trust as state capacity: The political economy of compliance

Timothy Besley and Sacha Dray

No wp-2022-135, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: This paper explores the link between trust in government, policy-making, and compliance. It focuses on a specific channel whereby citizens who are convinced that a policy is worthwhile are more motivated to comply with it. This in turn reduces the government's cost of implementing a policy and may also increase the set of feasible policies. Thus, state capacity is greater when citizens trust their government. The paper discusses alternative approaches to modelling the origins of trust, especially the link to the design of political institutions.

Keywords: State capacity; Trust; Compliance; Political economy; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-135

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