Greater than the Sum of Their Parts? When Combinations of Institutions Improve Citizens’ Decisions

Many scholars show that institutions help citizens with their political decisions. However, real-world contexts contain multiple institutions that are imposed in combination with one another. Thus, I develop a theory and experimental test of the conditions under which combinations of institutions induce citizens to trust a speaker’s statements and make better decisions than when only one institution is present. Contrary to my theoretical predictions, subjects make substantially better decisions when two institutions are imposed upon the speaker, relative to when only one institution is imposed. This occurs not because the additional institution increases the speaker’s propensity to make truthful statements, but rather because it increases subjects’ willingness to trust the already mostly truthful statements they receive. These findings suggest important lessons about the conditions under which institutions can increase trust and improve decision making in political, legal, and economic contexts