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Ethnic Diversity and Trust: New Evidence from Australian Data

Author

Listed:
  • Mendolia, Silvia

    (University of Turin)

  • Tosh, Alex
  • Yerokhin, Oleg

    (University of Wollongong)

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between neighbourhood ethnic and linguistic heterogeneity and the formation of an individual's local and general trust. A wide literature across economics and sociology has recognised the importance of trust in facilitating economic growth and development and it is therefore important to investigate elements of social organisation that encourage or inhibit the development of trust. We use fixed effects and instrumental variable regression and control for a wide set of individual and local area characteristics to identify the effect of heterogeneity on trust formation. Our results show that increasing neighbourhood ethnic and linguistic fractionalisation is associated with a decrease in local trust of about 12% of a standard deviation in the model with fixed effects, while we do not find any significant relationship between neighbourhood heterogeneity and general trust.

Suggested Citation

  • Mendolia, Silvia & Tosh, Alex & Yerokhin, Oleg, 2015. "Ethnic Diversity and Trust: New Evidence from Australian Data," IZA Discussion Papers 9544, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9544
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-1288.
    2. Ernst Fehr & Urs Fischbacher & Bernhard von Rosenbladt & J�rgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, "undated". "A Nation-Wide Laboratory: Examining trust and trustworthiness by integrating behavioral experiments into representative surveys," IEW - Working Papers 141, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    3. Cong Wang & Bodo Steiner, 2015. "Can ethnic-linguistic diversity explain cross-country differences in social capital formation?," Working Papers 6, University of Southern Denmark, Centre for Border Region Studies.
    4. Dustmann, Christian & Preston, Ian, 2001. "Attitudes to Ethic Minorities, Ethnic Context and Location Decisions," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(470), pages 353-373, April.
    5. Andrew Leigh, 2006. "Trust, Inequality and Ethnic Heterogeneity," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(258), pages 268-280, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sabina Albrecht & David Smerdon, 2022. "The social capital effects of refugee resettlement on host communities," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 98(320), pages 80-112, March.
    2. Murtazashvili, Ilia & Murtazashvili, Jennifer & Salahodjaev, Raufhon, 2019. "Trust and deforestation: A cross-country comparison," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 111-119.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    trust; social capital; ethnic fractionalization; ethnic heterogeneity; HILDA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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