The productivity of trust

Christian Bjørnskov and Pierre-Guillaume Méon

No 10-042, Working Papers CEB from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: This paper returns to one of the early questions of the literature on social trust, whether trust affects total factor productivity (TFP). Using both development and growth accounting, we find strong evidence of a causal effect of trust on the level and growth of TFP. Using a three-stage least-squares procedure, we moreover observe that the effect of trust on TFP runs entirely through property-rights institutions and not political institutions. Those findings resist a series of robustness checks.

Keywords: Total factor productivity; Social trust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 77 p.
Date: 2010-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-evo, nep-pol and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Productivity of Trust (2015)
Journal Article: The productivity of trust (2015)
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