Peut-on se fier à la confiance ?

This article attempts to survey a large part of the growing literature on trust, trying to circumscribe this imprecise concept and especially its relations with economic theory. After reviewing different notions of trust ? particularized, generalized, trust in institutions ? it tries to explore further the idea of generalized trust. The typology of current approaches and the different measurements available to quantify generalized trust are presented and discussed. The article closes with a critical discussion of the book by Y. Algan and P. Cahuc ?La société de défiance? (2007) that aims at applying to the case of France an economic approach of generalized trust. JEL Classification: B52, D81, N44, O17.