Historical pathogen prevalence and the radius of trust

European Economic Review • Vol/Iss. 162 • Elsevier • • Published In • Pages: 104658 •
By Kammas, Pantelis, Sarantides, Vassilis

Abstract

What causes people to trust or distrust others? Through a multi-level empirical analysis, the authors of this article find that societies with historical exposure to infectious diseases will tend to minimize contact with contaminated out-groups while strengthening in-group relationships to manage infections, thus developing a lower radius of trust.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Standard Cross Cultural Sample (SCCS)Other researchersUsed to measure the radius of trust at the ethnic group-level.
Historical pathogen prevalence indexOther researchersIndex created by Fincher et al. (2008) and Murray and Schaller (2010).
European Values Survey (EVS) and World Values Survey (WVS) wave 7 (2017–2022)Researchers' ownUsed to measure the radius of trust at the cross-country level, cross-country individual-level, and the individual-level of second-generation migrants.

Hypotheses (1)

HypothesisSupported
Historical pathogen prevalence will be negatively associated with the contemporary radius of trust in a society.Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: isanaraja