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A sticky trait: Social trust among Swedish expatriates in countries with varying institutional quality

Bergh, Andreas LU and Öhrvall, Richard (2018) In Journal of Comparative Economics 46(4). p.1146-1157
Abstract
Social trust is linked to many desirable economic and social outcomes. Using new data from a representative sample of 2668 Swedish expatriates, we examine the robustness of high social trust in countries with different levels of institutional quality. The results suggest that individual trust decreases with length of stay in countries with high corruption and low rule of law. The effect is relatively small and driven by expatriates who were aged 30 years or below upon arrival to the new country. While other studies have found that trust among migrants adapts to destination country trust levels, we find that after the (approximate) age of 30, high trust is a sticky personality trait. The results are robust to controlling for a large array... (More)
Social trust is linked to many desirable economic and social outcomes. Using new data from a representative sample of 2668 Swedish expatriates, we examine the robustness of high social trust in countries with different levels of institutional quality. The results suggest that individual trust decreases with length of stay in countries with high corruption and low rule of law. The effect is relatively small and driven by expatriates who were aged 30 years or below upon arrival to the new country. While other studies have found that trust among migrants adapts to destination country trust levels, we find that after the (approximate) age of 30, high trust is a sticky personality trait. The results are robust to controlling for a large array of individual characteristics (including age) and support the view that social trust is sensitive to events that occur early in life. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Social trust, institutions, corruption, rule of law
in
Journal of Comparative Economics
volume
46
issue
4
pages
1146 - 1157
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85049534090
ISSN
0147-5967
DOI
10.1016/j.jce.2018.06.002
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7da59e4c-6381-4deb-9d7f-02ab7d0d6225
date added to LUP
2018-06-28 16:54:31
date last changed
2022-04-25 08:07:58
@article{7da59e4c-6381-4deb-9d7f-02ab7d0d6225,
  abstract     = {{Social trust is linked to many desirable economic and social outcomes. Using new data from a representative sample of 2668 Swedish expatriates, we examine the robustness of high social trust in countries with different levels of institutional quality. The results suggest that individual trust decreases with length of stay in countries with high corruption and low rule of law. The effect is relatively small and driven by expatriates who were aged 30 years or below upon arrival to the new country. While other studies have found that trust among migrants adapts to destination country trust levels, we find that after the (approximate) age of 30, high trust is a sticky personality trait. The results are robust to controlling for a large array of individual characteristics (including age) and support the view that social trust is sensitive to events that occur early in life.}},
  author       = {{Bergh, Andreas and Öhrvall, Richard}},
  issn         = {{0147-5967}},
  keywords     = {{Social trust; institutions; corruption; rule of law}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1146--1157}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Comparative Economics}},
  title        = {{A sticky trait: Social trust among Swedish expatriates in countries with varying institutional quality}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2018.06.002}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jce.2018.06.002}},
  volume       = {{46}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}