When do People Trust their Government?

Charles Goodhart and Ly Hoang Vu

No 20109, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: There has been widespread concern about the decrease in trust in government and the need to regain it. Policymakers and researchers have been working on reasons for this, and how to reverse it. In this study, we rely on a recent sample prepared by the World Values Survey, wave 7. It includes over 81,000 observations across 52 countries for the years 2017 - 22. Our study offers three main findings. The first is that economic growth plays a crucial role in determining trust in government, and its importance appears consistent across all regions. The second is the presence of a "Trust Paradox," whereby trust in government tends to be lower in fully democratic countries compared to single-party states, with the exception of Latin America. The third is that migration generally is positively related to trust in government. We explain this by noting that, historically, this has often been the case; however, when inward migration exceeds a certain threshold, the effect on trust often shifts.

Keywords: Democracy; Economic growth; Immigration; Media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 A13 E10 H10 J61 L82 O11 P50 R10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04
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