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Trust and Public Policy: Lessons from the Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Mausumi Das

    (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics)

  • Ajit Mishra

    (Department of Economics,University of Bath, UK)

Abstract

This paper examines the importance of mutual conÖdence or trust between a government and its citizens on the e§ectiveness of public policies.We develop a theoretical framework where the designing of government policies and the concomitant actions of the citizens are meditated by the degree of social trust. We introduce a short term aggregative health shock - a pandemic - which is novel: its charateristics are not fully known at the onset. This creates scope for government intervention in the form of framing of the policy announcement and its information content. We use this framework to examine the relationship between government communication, social trust and compliance. For any given level of trust, we analyse the equilibrium framing of the policy as well as the corresponding response and examine the degree of policy e§ectiveness as a function of the existing level of trust. JEL Codes: H11, I12, I18

Suggested Citation

  • Mausumi Das & Ajit Mishra, 2023. "Trust and Public Policy: Lessons from the Pandemic," Working papers 333, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cde:cdewps:333
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/4km7l02j139aj8hl7kcccmqk9s is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Philippe Aghion & Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc & Andrei Shleifer, 2010. "Regulation and Distrust," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1015-1049.
    3. Dearmon, Jacob & Grier, Kevin, 2009. "Trust and development," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 210-220, August.
    4. Algan, Yann & Cahuc, Pierre, 2014. "Trust, Growth, and Well-Being: New Evidence and Policy Implications," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 2, pages 49-120, Elsevier.
    5. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/33o86cn6qp83dot08iir97915s is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Philippe Aghion & Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc & Andrei Shleifer, 2010. "Regulation and Distrust," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 125(3), pages 1015-1049.
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Grieve & Youqi Yang & Sam Abbott & Giridhara R Babu & Malay Bhattacharyya & Natalie Dean & Stephen Evans & Nicholas Jewell & Sinéad M Langan & Woojoo Lee & Geert Molenberghs & Liam Smeeth & El, 2023. "The importance of investing in data, models, experiments, team science, and public trust to help policymakers prepare for the next pandemic," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(11), pages 1-16, November.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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