IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ratsoc/v12y2000i4p381-395.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trusting Individuals Versus Trusting Institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Robert E. Goodin

Abstract

Hume is right: assuming the good will be good regardless, `institutions designed for knaves' will unambiguously increase contract compliance. But what if the establishment of public enforcement institutions undermines private virtue? Using a deliberately stylized model, this article traces several scenarios in which demoralization might occur. The aim is to calibrate the tolerances of the trust system, showing just how bad that demoralization would have to be before we would be better off simply trusting private individuals to honor their contracts autonomously rather than commissioning public institutions to enforce them.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert E. Goodin, 2000. "Trusting Individuals Versus Trusting Institutions," Rationality and Society, , vol. 12(4), pages 381-395, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:12:y:2000:i:4:p:381-395
    DOI: 10.1177/104346300012004002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/104346300012004002
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/104346300012004002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geoffrey Brennan & Werner Güth & Hartmut Kliemt, 2003. "Trust in the Shadow of the Courts," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 159(1), pages 16-36, March.
    2. Graetz, Michael J & Reinganum, Jennifer F & Wilde, Louis L, 1986. "The Tax Compliance Game: Toward an Interactive Theory of Law Enforcement," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    3. Lane,Robert E., 1991. "The Market Experience," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521407373.
    4. Parry, Geraint, 1976. "Trust, Distrust and Consensus," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 129-142, April.
    5. Brennan, Geoffrey & Güth, Werner & Kliemt, Hartmut, 1997. "Trust in the shadow of the courts if judges are no better," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 1997,44, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
    6. Frey, Bruno S, 1997. "A Constitution for Knaves Crowds Out Civic Virtues," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1043-1053, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lars P. Feld & Benno Torgler, 2007. "Tax Morale after the Reunification of Germany: Results from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," CREMA Working Paper Series 2007-03, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    2. Sagit Leviner, 2008. "An overview: A new era of tax enforcement – from “big stick” to responsive regulation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(3), pages 360-380, September.
    3. Frey Bruno S. & Stutzer Alois, 2000. "Maximizing Happiness?," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 145-167, May.
    4. Lars P. Feld & Bruno S. Frey, 2006. "Tax Compliance as the Result of a Psychological Tax Contract: The Role of Incentives and Responsive Regulation," CREMA Working Paper Series 2006-10, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    5. Vatn, Arild, 2005. "Rationality, institutions and environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 203-217, November.
    6. Patricia Crifo & Marc-Arthur Diaye, 2011. "The Composition of Compensation Policy: From Cash to Fringe Benefits," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 101-102, pages 307-326.
    7. Lars P. Feld & Bruno S. Frey, 2007. "Tax Evasion, Tax Amnesties and the Psychological Tax Contract," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0729, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    8. Bruno S. Frey & Lars P. Feld, 2002. "Deterrence and Morale in Taxation: An Empirical Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 760, CESifo.
    9. Lars P. Feld & Benno Torgler & Bin Dong, 2008. "Coming Closer? Tax Morale, Deterrence and Social Learning after German Unification," CREMA Working Paper Series 2008-09, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    10. Lars P. Feld & Benno Torgler & Bin Dong, 2008. "Coming Closer? Tax Morale, Deterrence and Social Learning after German Unification," CREMA Working Paper Series 2008-09, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    11. Sverre Grepperud, 2007. "Environmental voluntary behaviour and crowding-out effects: regulation or laissez-faire?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 135-149, April.
    12. M. Martin Boyer, 2007. "Resistance (to Fraud) Is Futile," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 74(2), pages 461-492, June.
    13. Jon D. Wisman, 2013. "Why Marx still matters," International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(3), pages 229-242.
    14. Andrew E. Clark, 2011. "The Organisational Commitment of Workers in OECD Countries," management revue. Socio-economic Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 22(1), pages 8-27.
    15. Pablo Sanguinetti & Martin Besfamille, 2004. "Exerting local tax effort or lobbying for central transfers?: Evidence from Argentina," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 249, Econometric Society.
    16. Christoph Engel & Luigi Mittone & Azzurra Morreale, 2024. "Outcomes or participation? Experimentally testing competing sources of legitimacy for taxation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(2), pages 563-583, April.
    17. Roberto José Arias, 2004. "Reglas de selección para la fiscalización de Impuestos a las Ventas," Revista de Economía y Estadística, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Instituto de Economía y Finanzas, vol. 42(2), pages 29-62, Diciembre.
    18. Anja De Waegenaere & Richard C. Sansing & Jacco L. Wielhouwer, 2006. "Who Benefits from Inconsistent Multinational Tax Transfer†Pricing Rules?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(1), pages 103-131, March.
    19. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
    20. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2006. "Environmental Morale and Motivation," CREMA Working Paper Series 2006-17, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:12:y:2000:i:4:p:381-395. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.