CULTIVATING TRUST: NORMS, INSTITUTIONS AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF SCALE

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bidner, Chris; Francois, Patrick
• 署名单位: University of New South Wales Sydney; University of British Columbia; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2010.02398.x
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 1097-1129
• 关键词: cultural transmission; COOPERATION; DYNAMICS; LAW

摘要

We study the co-evolution of honesty norms and institutions. New trading opportunities require institutional changes to be realised, since the initial vulnerability of institutions to opportunistic behaviour leads to the deterioration of norms. We show how an escape from opportunism requires that institutional improvements outpace norm deterioration. A key prediction emerges: larger economies are more likely to evolve to steady states with strong honesty norms but need not have better institutions. This prediction is tested using a cross-section of countries; population has a significant positive relationship with trust, even when controlling for standard trust determinants and institutional quality.