Replication Data for: Institutional Quality Causes Generalised Trust: Experimental Evidence on Trusting Under the Shadow of Doubt

Generalised trust is essential for collective action, which is at the heart of many societal problems. Institutional quality has been proposed as a determinant of generalised trust, though while the correlation between the two is strong and robust, the evidence on the causal link is scant. We show that this relationship is causal. We first experimentally expose individuals to institutions of different quality, operationalised as their ability to prevent corrupt behaviour. We then measure generalised trust using a trust game. The results show that institutional quality drives generalised trust and that this effect is generated by the mere doubt that corrupt behaviours might succeed, even without knowledge of occurrence or success of such behaviours. Cross-country comparisons with novel data support our results. Our contributions are the first causal experimental evidence on the link between institutional quality and trust and a novel experimental design for modelling institutional quality in laboratory settings.