A Sticky Trait: Social Trust Among Swedish Expatriates in Countries with Varying Institutional Quality

56 Pages Posted: 27 Jun 2018

See all articles by Andreas Bergh

Andreas Bergh

Lund University - Department of Economics; Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)

Richard Öhrvall

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN); Political Science Division, Linköping University

Date Written: September 7, 2016

Abstract

Social trust is linked to many desirable economic and social outcomes. Using new data from a representative sample of 2,668 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.

Keywords: social trust, institutions, corruption, rule of law, migration

JEL Classification: F22, P48, Z13

Suggested Citation

Bergh, Andreas and Bergh, Andreas and Öhrvall, Richard, A Sticky Trait: Social Trust Among Swedish Expatriates in Countries with Varying Institutional Quality (September 7, 2016). IFN Working Paper No. 1132, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3199818

Andreas Bergh (Contact Author)

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) ( email )

Box 55665
Grevgatan 34 2nd floor
Stockholm, SE-102 15
Sweden
0707790734 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ifn.se/web/AndreasB

Lund University - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7082
S-220 07
Lund
Sweden

HOME PAGE: http://www.nek.lu.se/

Richard Öhrvall

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) ( email )

Box 55665
Grevgatan 34, 2nd floor
Stockholm, SE-102 15
Sweden

Political Science Division, Linköping University ( email )

Building A, entrance 17
Hans Meijers väg
Linköping, SE-581 83
Sweden

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