The Autocratic Root of Social Distrust

Xin Jin () and Xu Xu ()
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Xu Xu: Department of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University

No 516, Working Papers from University of South Florida, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper presents evidence that autocratic culture adversely affects social trust and civic engagement. Using a measure of individuals� inherited autocratic culture from their country of origin, we find that individuals whose ancestors migrated from countries with higher autocracy levels are less likely to trust others or to vote in presidential elections in the U.S. The impact of autocratic culture on generalized trust can last for three generations while the impact on voting disappears after one generation. These findings are consistent across the U.S. and Europe and are not driven by selection into migration.

Keywords: Trust; Autocracy; Elections; Immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: P16 Z10 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2016-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig and nep-soc
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:usf:wpaper:0516

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