Agency theory assumes that tighter monitoring by the principal should motivate the agent to raise his effort level whereas the "crowding-out" literature suggests that it may reduce the overall work effort. These two assertions are not necessarily contradictory provided that the nature of the...

In recent decades, a great deal of international comparative research has examined whether social policy crowds out or crowds in social trust. Although previous studies have made significant advances, we still have much to learn. First, the proxies of social policy adopted by earlier...