Intrinsically trustworthy agents never cheat. A society's willingness to trust and the quality of its institutions have their origins in the intrinsic trustworthiness of its citizens. Trustworthiness is the basis for maximizing output in economic exchange and in explaining differences in...

We examine the impact of the values respect for others and responsibility on productivity and the accumulation of physical and human capital for a sample of 58 countries. We find that these two core values are important and that their impact is substantial. Respect for others works primarily...

Trust is often considered a determinant of economic performance. The exogeneity of trust, however, is questionable. We develop a model with heterogeneous agents to determine aggregate trustworthiness, trust, and output. People differ according to their risk aversion (caution). The distribution...

Intrinsically trustworthy agents never cheat. A society's willingness to trust and the quality of its institutions have their origins in the intrinsic trustworthiness of its citizens. Trustworthiness is the basis for maximizing output in economic exchange and in explaining differences in...

In many African countries, governments are re-thinking the role of the state in centrally providing certain goods and services. The rights and responsibilities for providing various public goods are being decentralized to lower levels of government administration, and/or being devolved directly...