Trust and Corruption.

Trust and corruption are opposites. In societies with high levels of trust, there is little corruption and societies with lots of corruption have low levels of interpersonal trust. Which comes first? I estimate simultaneous equation models using estimates of trust from the World Values Surveys and corruption indices from Transparency International. It is difficult to sort out a causal ordering from static measures. However, measures of change in trust and change in corruption suggest that trust comes first. I also provide estimates of the effects of trust and corruption in the quality of governments and in governmental policies and attempt to sort out a causal ordering. Check author’s web site for an updated version of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]