Aghion et al (QJE 2010)
Regulation and Distrust
abstract:
We document that, in a cross section of countries, government regulation is strongly negatively correlated with measures of trust. In a simple model explaining this correlation, distrust creates public demand for regulation, whereas regulation in turn discourages formation of trust, leading to multiple equilibria. A key implication of the model is that individuals in low-trust countries want more government intervention even though they know the government is corrupt. We test this and other implications of the model using country- and individual-level data on trust and beliefs about the role of government, as well as on changes in beliefs during the transition from socialism.
なかなか面白いんだけど，distrustがあったときに直ちにregulationに頼るかなー，というところが直感的に怪しい。そういう場合，普通だと，governmental regulationじゃなくて，local/kinship networkに頼る方が早いんじゃないかな（←「みんなで渡れば怖くない」）。
もちろん，そういったnetworkを育てるような社会的基盤がないようなケースでは，governmental regulationに頼らなきゃいけなくなるわけではあるけれども。
