Do natural disasters enhance societal trust?

Arbeitspapier

In this paper we investigate the long-run relationship between disasters and societal trust. A growing body research suggests that factors such as income inequality, ethnic fractionalization, and religious heritage are important determinants of social capital in general, and trust in particular. We present new cross-country evidence of another important determinant of trust - the frequency of natural disasters. Frequent naturally occurring events such as storms require (and provide opportunity for) societies to work closely together to meet their challenges. While severe storms can have devastating human and economic impacts, a potential spillover benefit of greater storm exposure may be a more tightly knit society.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 3905

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economic Development: General ; Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming
• Subject: natural disasters ; economic development ; social capital ; trust

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Toya, Hideki ; Skidmore, Mark
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/62319
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET