Arbeitspapier

Inherited Trust and Growth - Comment

Algan and Cahuc in "Inherited Trust and Growth" (AER, 2010) argue that "inherited trust" is a key factor in explaining growth rates across countries. They derive a measure of inherited trust by linking respondents' "home countries" in the United States General Social Survey (1972-2004) and the 2000 wave of the World Values Survey. Algan and Cahuc then estimate trust levels for people born before 1910 (inherited trust in 1935) and afterwards (inherited trust in 2000). They show a strong link between economic growth rates and inherited trust. We do not challenge this result, but we do argue that: (1) the 2000 World Values Survey has many anomalous results; (2) the estimates for inherited trust in 1935 are mostly based upon tiny samples for most ethnic heritage groups in the General Social Survey; and (3) Algan and Cahuc's findings are based upon two-tailed rather than one-tailed tests. We reestimate their model using the more reliable waves of the World Values Survey and find much weaker relationships between inherited trust in 1935 and trust in the home country. We also suggest caution in the overall measure of inherited trust in 1935.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: CREMA Working Paper ; No. 2012-04

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
Cultural Economics: Religion
Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
Thema
inherited trust
generalized trust
US immigrants

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Müller, Daniel
Torgler, Benno
Uslaner, Eric M.
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA)
(wo)
Basel
(wann)
2012

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Müller, Daniel
  • Torgler, Benno
  • Uslaner, Eric M.
  • Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA)

Entstanden

  • 2012

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