Trust in public institutions, inequality, and digital interaction: Empirical evidence from European Union countries

IF 16.4 1区化学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accounts of Chemical Research Pub Date : 2023-12-13 DOI:10.1016/j.jmacro.2023.103582

Flaviana Palmisano , Agnese Sacchi

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Declining institutional trust is one of the central problems in modern societies. Identifying its determinants, among which inequality, is fundamental for designing suitable interventions to restore confidence in institutions and preserve the social contract. We study the relationship between the two phenomena for EU-28 countries over the period 2003–2019. We use OLS and IV estimations to show that increasing income inequality is significantly associated with reduced trust in national governments. We also find that citizens’ digital interaction with the public administrations represents a mitigating channel as it contributes to shrinking the adverse effect of inequality on institutional trust, especially for more vulnerable categories in society, such as individuals with low educational attainment and those who are unemployed. These new insights might be particularly helpful for the government's agenda to meet transparency goals and provide more digital public services. From a policy viewpoint, redistribution policies combined with a well-established e-relationship between citizens and governments may be the road to restore trust in institutions.

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对公共机构的信任、不平等和数字互动：来自欧盟国家的经验证据

机构信任度下降是现代社会的核心问题之一。确定其决定因素（其中包括不平等）对于设计适当的干预措施以恢复对机构的信任和维护社会契约至关重要。我们研究了 2003-2019 年期间欧盟 28 国这两种现象之间的关系。我们使用 OLS 和 IV 估计表明，收入不平等的加剧与国家政府信任度的降低有显著关联。我们还发现，公民与公共行政部门的数字互动是一个缓解渠道，因为它有助于缩小不平等对制度信任的不利影响，尤其是对社会中更弱势的群体，如低学历者和失业者。这些新见解可能对政府实现透明度目标和提供更多数字化公共服务的议程特别有帮助。从政策角度看，再分配政策与公民和政府之间完善的电子关系相结合，可能是恢复对机构信任的途径。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounts of Chemical Research 化学-化学综合

CiteScore

31.40

自引率

1.10%

发文量

312

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance. Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.