Country Size, Institutions, and Trust: Some Evolutionary Evidence

Abstract

Recent research has indicated that the variations in generalized trust have deep historical roots. This paper argues that geopolitical history may be an important determinant of modern levels of trust. Specifically, regions that have historically been dominated by states of different sizes may have different levels of trust due to differences in institutional quality. Drawing on the trust and corruption literature, several hypotheses about the effect of country size on trust are drawn. These hypotheses are tested on a sample of western European regions using data indicating the political and economic status of these regions for the period 1250-1860. The results indicate that being part of geographically large states may have a small negative effect on present levels of generalized trust. This effect appears to result from larger countries having historically weaker representative institutions. However, controlling for political representation, country size has a strongly positive relationship with generalized social trust.