Trust in public institutions over the business cycle

Arbeitspapier

We document that trust in public institutions and particularly trust in banks, business and government has declined over recent years. U.S. time series evidence suggests that this partly reflects the pro-cyclical nature of trust in institutions. Cross-country comparisons reveal a clear legacy of the Great Recession, and those countries whose unemployment grew the most suffered the biggest loss in confidence in institutions, particularly in trust in government and the financial sector. Finally, analysis of several repeated cross-sections of confidence within U.S. states yields similar qualitative patterns, but much smaller magnitudes in response to state-specific shocks.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5570

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Business Fluctuations; Cycles ; Studies of Particular Policy Episodes ; Comparative Studies of Particular Economies ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Subject: trust ; institutions ; confidence ; survey data ; congress ; banks ; big business ; media ; courts ; Vertrauen ; Institutionelle Infrastruktur ; Konjunktur ; Bank ; Großunternehmen ; Regierung ; Kommunikationsmedien ; USA

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Stevenson, Betsey ; Wolfers, Justin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/51711
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-201104133920
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET