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Crime and Erosion of Trust: Evidence for Latin America

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  • Corbacho, Ana
  • Philipp, Julia
  • Ruiz-Vega, Mauricio

Abstract

Trust links citizens to the institutions intended to represent them and to one another. By reducing trust, crime has the potential to grind down social capital and become an obstacle to development. This paper analyzes the relationship between individual victimization and trust in Latin America using an empirical strategy that reduces both overt and hidden biases. Victimization significantly reduces vertical trust (in the local police) but has no robust effect on measures of horizontal trust. Governments need to reduce actual victimization but also rebuild trust in local public institutions to enhance the effectiveness of crime prevention efforts.

Suggested Citation

  • Corbacho, Ana & Philipp, Julia & Ruiz-Vega, Mauricio, 2015. "Crime and Erosion of Trust: Evidence for Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 400-415.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:70:y:2015:i:c:p:400-415
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.04.013
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    Cited by:

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    6. Haiyang Lu & Peishan Tong & Rong Zhu, 2020. "Does Internet Use Affect Netizens’ Trust in Government? Empirical Evidence from China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 167-185, May.
    7. Velásquez, Daniel & Medina, Santiago & Yamada, Gustavo & Lavado, Pablo & Núñez, Miguel & Alatrista, Hugo & Morzan, Juandiego, 2018. "I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: The Effect of Crime News Coverage on Crime Perception and Trust," IZA Discussion Papers 12056, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Foa, Roberto Stefan, 2022. "Decentralization, historical state capacity and public goods provision in Post-Soviet Russia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    9. Friehe, Tim & Do, Vu Mai Linh, 2023. "Do crime victims lose trust in others? Evidence from Germany," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    10. Xiangdan Piao & Xinxin Ma & Tetsuya Tsurumi & Shunsuke Managi, 2022. "Social Capital, Negative Event, Life Satisfaction and Sustainable Community: Evidence from 37 Countries," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1311-1330, June.
    11. Paolo Buonanno & Irene Ferrari & Alessandro Saia, 2023. "ALL IS NOT LOST: Organized Crime and Social Capital Formation," Working Papers 2023: 16, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari", revised 2024.
    12. Robert Gillanders & Olga Neselevska, 2018. "Public Sector Corruption and Trust in the Private Sector," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(8), pages 1288-1317, November.
    13. Matteo Pazzona, 2020. "Do victims of crime trust less but participate more in social organizations?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 49-73, March.
    14. Velásquez, Daniel & Medina, Santiago & Yamada, Gustavo & Lavado, Pablo & Nunez-del-Prado, Miguel & Alatrista-Salas, Hugo & Morzán, Juandiego, 2020. "I read the news today, oh boy: The effect of crime news coverage on crime perception," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    15. Fahlberg, Anjuli & Velasquez, Maya & Wise, Harper & Simon, Tori, 2023. "Tangential Movements: How feminist organizing against gender-based violence offers an alternative avenue for protesting drug violence in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    16. Fabián Riffo & Daniela Pérez & César Salazar & Andrés Acuña, 2019. "¿Qué influye en la confianza en las instituciones? Evidencia empírica para Chile," Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, vol. 27(2), pages 83-104, June.

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    Keywords

    crime; beliefs; trust; social capital;
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