TY - JOUR
T1 - Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected public trust? Evidence for the US and the Netherlands
AU - van der Cruijsen, Carin
AU - de Haan, Jakob
AU - Jonker, Nicole
N1 - Funding Information:
☆ Carin van der Cruijsen is the corresponding author. We are grateful to CentERdata and RAND for collecting the data and to Ria Roerink for her involvement in designing the trust surveys. Two anonymous referees provided many helpful suggestions. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of De Nederlandsche Bank or those of the Eurosystem. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Using two large-scale surveys among households, we examine the drivers of public trust in banks, insurance companies, BigTechs, and other people in the United States and the Netherlands, and analyse whether the COVID-19 pandemic has affected public trust. Our results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic did not have much effect on trust in financial institutions in the US and the Netherlands. However, trust in BigTechs and trust in other people declined in both countries, especially in the US. Our regression results show that the relationship between respondents’ characteristics and (changes in) trust differs across the US and the Netherlands. However, for both countries we find evidence that individuals with poor health have lower levels of trust than healthy people, and that trust among poor-health respondents dropped more during the pandemic. Furthermore, trust in other people is positively related to trust in banks, insurance companies, and BigTechs.
AB - Using two large-scale surveys among households, we examine the drivers of public trust in banks, insurance companies, BigTechs, and other people in the United States and the Netherlands, and analyse whether the COVID-19 pandemic has affected public trust. Our results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic did not have much effect on trust in financial institutions in the US and the Netherlands. However, trust in BigTechs and trust in other people declined in both countries, especially in the US. Our regression results show that the relationship between respondents’ characteristics and (changes in) trust differs across the US and the Netherlands. However, for both countries we find evidence that individuals with poor health have lower levels of trust than healthy people, and that trust among poor-health respondents dropped more during the pandemic. Furthermore, trust in other people is positively related to trust in banks, insurance companies, and BigTechs.
KW - BigTechs
KW - Consumer survey
KW - COVID-19
KW - Financial institutions
KW - Health
KW - Trust
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134506372&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.07.006
DO - 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.07.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85134506372
SN - 0167-2681
VL - 200
SP - 1010
EP - 1024
JO - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
JF - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
ER -