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Trust a few: natural disasters and the formation of trust in Africa

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  • Robert Mackay
  • Astghik Mavisakalyan
  • Yashar Tarverdi

Abstract

Individuals are at their most mental plasticity in their impressionable years (ages 18-25 years) forming long-term attitudes and behaviours essential to functioning in a society, such as trust. In this paper we ask how exposure to natural disasters within the impressionable years may affect the formation of trust by matching data from over 1,000 disaster occurrences with data from 88,670 individuals across 36 African nations.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Mackay & Astghik Mavisakalyan & Yashar Tarverdi, 2023. "Trust a few: natural disasters and the formation of trust in Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2023-143, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2023-143
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abel Brodeur & Idaliya Grigoryeva & Lamis Kattan, 2021. "Stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and trust," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1321-1354, October.
    2. H. Jithamala Caldera & S. C. Wirasinghe, 2022. "A universal severity classification for natural disasters," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(2), pages 1533-1573, March.
    3. Jetter, Michael & Kristoffersen, Ingebjørg, 2018. "Financial shocks and the erosion of interpersonal trust: Evidence from longitudinal data," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 162-176.
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