Measuring trust in institutions

Fredrik Carlsson, Eyoual Demeke, Peter Martinsson and Tewodros Tesemma

Oxford Economic Papers, 2024, vol. 76, issue 1, 22-40

Abstract: Trust in institutions is important for economic prosperity. We present results from a field study where we compare stated trust in institutions in general, stated trust in employees at institutions, and amount sent to employees at institutions using a trust game. Including more than 250 entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, we examine levels of trust towards entrepreneurship development agency, district administration, tax authority, and electric utility. There is a positive and sizeable significant correlation between stated trust and trust game. Furthermore, we find that generalized trust is weakly correlated with trust in specific institutions both compared with stated trust, and trust game. Given the large heterogeneity in levels of trust to specific institutions, we argue it is important to elicit institution-specific levels of trust.

JEL-codes: C90 D01 D02 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Related works:
Working Paper: Measuring Trust in Institutions (2018)
Working Paper: Measuring Trust in Institutions (2018)
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