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Trustworthiness and economic performance

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  • Breuer, Janice Boucher
  • McDermott, John

Abstract

Intrinsically trustworthy agents never cheat. A society's willingness to trust and the quality of its institutions have their origins in the intrinsic trustworthiness of its citizens. Trustworthiness is the basis for maximizing output in economic exchange and in explaining differences in standards of living around the world. We measure intrinsic trustworthiness with a question from the World Values Survey and estimate its effect using a sample of 60 countries. We find that trustworthiness is important for output per capita and that the effect of trust is likely to come from trustworthiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Breuer, Janice Boucher & McDermott, John, 2009. "Trustworthiness and economic performance," MPRA Paper 16777, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:16777
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Breuer, Janice Boucher & McDermott, John, 2012. "Culture, caution, and trust," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 15-23.
    2. Riyanto, Yohanes E. & Jonathan, Yeo X.W., 2018. "Directed trust and trustworthiness in a social network: An experimental investigation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 234-253.
    3. William English, 2012. "Demystifying trust: Experimental evidence from Cambodia and Thailand," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 24(2), pages 172-209, April.
    4. Breuer, Janice Boucher & McDermott, John, 2009. "Trust and the Distribution of Caution," MPRA Paper 18112, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Rattaphon Wuthisatian & Mark Pingle & Mark Nichols, 2017. "To support trust and trustworthiness: punish, communicate, both, neither?," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 1(1), pages 61-68, February.
    6. Breuer, Janice Boucher & McDermott, John, 2009. "Respect, responsibility, and production," MPRA Paper 18111, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    trustworthiness; trust; institutions; output per capita;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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