Inequality and Trust in Sweden: Some Inequalities are More Harmful than Others

Arbeitspapier

We present new evidence on the influence of income inequality on generalized trust. Using individual panel data from Swedish counties together with an instrumental variable strategy, we find that differences in disposable income, and especially differences among people in the bottom half of the income distribution, are associated with lower trust. The relationship between income inequality and trust is particularly strong for people with a strong aversion against income differentials. We also find that the proportion of people born in a foreign country is negatively associated with trust.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFN Working Paper ; No. 673

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Subject: Trust ; Social capital ; Inequality ; Vertrauen ; Einkommensverteilung ; Social Capital ; Sozialpsychologie ; Schweden

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Gustavsson, Magnus ; Jordahl, Henrik
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 2006

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/81233
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET