This paper develops a model of criminal behavior that analyzes how such behavior may be associated with both individual and neighborhood poverty. Importantly, this model distinguishes between basic property crimes such as burglary and larceny, and interpersonal violent crimes such as robbery and...

A body of research has suggested that adolescents experience harm to their psychological well-being, including self-esteem, because of excessive time spent using digital media, such as social media. The mechanism through which screen time influences self-esteem is often explained as the result...

What are the long-term effects of Communism on economically relevant notions such as social trust? To answer this question, we use the reunification of Germany as a natural experiment and study the post-reunification trajectory of convergence with regard to individuals’ trust and risk, as well...

Empirical results using Japanese data suggest that social trust improves student language and mathematics achievement test scores in primary and junior high school. After controlling for endogeneity bias, social trust had a greater effect on scores for primary school students than on scores for...

Based on data on a cross section of individuals surveyed in the 1999-2002 wave of World and European Values Surveys, we investigate the extent to which bridging and bonding social capital as well as social trust interdependently affect individuals’ earnings. Our analysis provides robust...

State-controlled listed firms in China receive preferential treatment when borrowing from commercial banks; in contrast, private controlled firms rely on informal finance and on trade credit. We argue for and find evidence that private firms located in higher social trust regions use more trade...

Central banks have been made more independent in many countries. A common rationale has been the existence of a credibility (or lack-of-trust) problem for monetary policy. This indicates a possible and until now unexplored link between social trust and central-bank independence. Our empirical...

A series of studies connect social trust to economic growth. In this paper, we explore the connection between trust and a broader measure of development, the UN Human Development Index. We find that trust is significantly associated with faster human development in the 1980–2005 period. The...

What are the long-term effects of Communism on economically relevant notions such as social trust, fairness, and scope of cooperation? To answer this question, we study the post-unification trajectory of convergence between East and West German individuals with regard to trust, cooperation, and...

Many countries have undertaken central-bank independence reforms, but the years of implementation differ. What explains such differences in timing? This is of interest more broadly, as it sheds light on factors that matter for the speed at which economic reforms come about. We study a rich set...