Using Japanese prefecture-level data for the years 1979 and 1996, I explore the extent to which inequality, age heterogeneity, and human capital have an effect upon neighborhood trust, which is ordinarily considered as a kind of particularized trust. The major findings are as follows: (1) Income inequality is associated with low trust for both young and the old generations. (2) Age homogeneity and education have a detrimental effect on trust. However, this tendency is not observed when the sample includes older-generation respondents only. These results are not changed when I instrument for inequality and per capita income using the relative size of the mature-aged cohort and the occurrence of natural disasters. It follows that neighborhood trust contains mixed features of generalized and particularized trust.
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Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number
10218.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology
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Alesina, Alberto & La Ferrara, Eliana, 2002.
"Who trusts others?,"
Journal of Public Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 207-234, August.
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