Where You Come From or Where You Live? Examining the Cultural and Institutional Explanation of Generalized Trust Using Migration as a Natural Experiment

Abstract

By utilizing the natural experiment of migration, this article attempts to answer whether generalized trust in other people is the result of cultural heritage or institutional quality. Looking at immigrants having migrated from a broad range of countries of origin to destination countries in Western Europe, I examine how their generalized trust is affected by the culture of their country of origin (in terms of the level of trust of this country) as well as institutional quality in the country they have migrated to (in terms of freedom from corruption). The results show that controlling for confounding variables, both factors have a highly significant impact on trust and hence that generalized trust appears to have both cultural and institutional foundations.