Trust and development of education and science

Education and science play an increasingly significant role in the development of modern society as well as the economy. The number of years people spend on education has been steadily increasing over the past century, and this phenomenon has become truly global. Thence, one would probably agree that education strengthens its importance in social and economic life, and its development becomes an important indicator of the economic well-being and sustainable development of any given country. Our paper scrutinizes the indicators of development and trust in eduction and science using a case study from Russian Federation, a country where education has a very important, yet a dubious and debatable significance. In Russian society, a paradoxical situation has developed in many ways with attitudes in society towards the state of the education system, which is reflected in the gap in the desire to give their children (or grandchildren for that matter) the highest level of education coupled with a very low rate of assessment of this very education. We measure and apply the indicators of growth of science and education based on the the level of trust which is taken as a proxy of the quality of social capital. We show that a high level of trust characterizes social capital, which contributes to the establishment of depersonalized (impersonal) social ties, both outside and inside organizations. On the other hand, the low level of trust causes a dysfunction of management and complicates the formation of social ties and is characterized by the dominance of institutions that limit the possibilities of social and professional mobility. Our results and outcomes can be useful for constructing economic and social measures for supporting the growth of science and education as well as for finding the most effective pathways for achieving the sustainable development of this field which leads to the increase in the economic competitiveness of a country.