Motorways and railroads to trust

IF 2.3 3区经济学 Q2 ECONOMICS

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization Pub Date : 2025-04-09 DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106972

Despina Gavresi , Anastasia Litina , Georgios Tsiachtsiras

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Abstract

This paper examines how transportation infrastructure, specifically motorway and railroad length, impacts interpersonal and political trust. Using data from the European Social Survey (ESS), we observe higher trust levels in individuals from regions with more extensive infrastructure. Our analysis encompasses three layers: a cross-regional analysis, an international immigrant analysis where immigrants are linked to their origin country infrastructure, and an inter-regional immigrant analysis where immigrants are linked to their origin region’s infrastructure, respectively. Consistent results across specifications suggest infrastructure enhances trust by promoting mobility and exposure to new people and ideas, as well as by elevating political trust as the government is perceived as more reliable and effective. Further analysis in a panel of Nuts 1 regions focuses on the mechanics of mobility. We investigate how trust in a region correlates with the road and rail travel time between regions as well as with the cost-effectiveness of its connections. The findings indicate that increased and more affordable mobility leads to higher trust, further supporting our hypothesis.

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本文探讨了交通基础设施，特别是高速公路和铁路的长度如何影响人际信任和政治信任。通过使用欧洲社会调查（ESS）的数据，我们观察到来自基础设施更广泛地区的个人信任度更高。我们的分析包括三个层面：跨区域分析、国际移民分析（移民与其原籍国的基础设施相关联）以及区域间移民分析（移民与其原籍地区的基础设施相关联）。各种分析的结果一致表明，基础设施通过促进流动性、接触新的人和新的想法，以及通过提高政治信任度（因为政府被认为更可靠、更有效）来增强信任。对 "坚果 1 "地区面板的进一步分析侧重于流动性的机制。我们研究了一个地区的信任度如何与地区间的公路和铁路旅行时间以及连接的成本效益相关联。研究结果表明，更多和更经济的流动性会带来更高的信任度，从而进一步支持了我们的假设。

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

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

3.80

自引率

9.10%

发文量

392

期刊介绍： The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization is devoted to theoretical and empirical research concerning economic decision, organization and behavior and to economic change in all its aspects. Its specific purposes are to foster an improved understanding of how human cognitive, computational and informational characteristics influence the working of economic organizations and market economies and how an economy structural features lead to various types of micro and macro behavior, to changing patterns of development and to institutional evolution. Research with these purposes that explore the interrelations of economics with other disciplines such as biology, psychology, law, anthropology, sociology and mathematics is particularly welcome.