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Radical Distrust: Are Economic Policy Attitudes Tempered by Social Trust?

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  • Hans Pitlik

    (Austrian Institute of Economic Research WIFO)

  • Martin Rode

    (Universidad de Navarra, Department of Economics, School of Economics and Business)

Abstract

Debates about the appropriate role of markets and governments are often shaped by sharply contrasting opinions. Based on individual data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study for up to 190,000 respondents in a sample of 68 democratic countries, we find that social trust is associated with tempered attitudes regarding government intervention and redistribution. Results corroborate ideas from socio-psychological research that trusting people have personality attributes which work towards a moderation on politically divisive topics. Complementary to the literature on political polarization, this opens the possibility that trusting societies may be superior at adapting polices to novel challenges because social trust reduces the probability of extreme attitude formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans Pitlik & Martin Rode, 2021. "Radical Distrust: Are Economic Policy Attitudes Tempered by Social Trust?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 485-506, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:158:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-020-02317-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-020-02317-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Berggren, Niclas & Bjørnskov, Christian, 2023. "Does globalization suppress social trust?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 443-458.
    2. Gunther Tichy, 2020. "Europa in der Vertrauenskrise? [European Trust Crisis?]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 100(8), pages 622-627, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social trust; Polarization; Policy attitudes; Preference formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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