Is Trust the Missing Root of Institutions, Education, and Development?

Christian Bjørnskov, Pierre-Guillaume Méon

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88 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report evidence that trust is the missing root relating education, institutions,
and economic development. We observe that more trust both increases education and improves legal and bureaucratic institutions, which in turn spurs economic development. We substantiate this intuition with a series of regressions that provide evidence that trust determines both education and the quality of institutions, and that education and institutions in turn affect GDP per capita.
Original languageEnglish
JournalPublic Choice
Volume157
Issue3
Pages (from-to)641-669
Number of pages29
ISSN0048-5829
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

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