Trust and State Effectiveness: The Political Economy of Compliance

Abstract This paper explores the link between trust in government, policymaking and compliance. It focuses on a specific channel whereby citizens who are convinced of the merits of a policy are more motivated to comply with it. This, in turn, reduces the government’s cost of implementing this policy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Economic journal (London) Vol. 134; no. 662; pp. 2225 - 2251
Main Authors Besley, Timothy, Dray, Sacha
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Oxford University Press 22.08.2024
Subjects
Alternative approaches
Compliance
COVID-19
Government
Policy making
Political economy
Political institutions
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Summary:Abstract This paper explores the link between trust in government, policymaking and compliance. It focuses on a specific channel whereby citizens who are convinced of the merits of a policy are more motivated to comply with it. This, in turn, reduces the government’s cost of implementing this policy and may also increase the set of feasible interventions. As a result, state effectiveness is greater when citizens trust their government. The paper discusses alternative approaches to modelling the origins of trust, especially the link to the design of political institutions. We then provide empirical evidence consistent with the model’s findings that compliance is increasing in government trust using the Integrated Values Survey and voluntary compliance during COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.
ISSN:0013-0133
1468-0297
DOI:10.1093/ej/ueae030