Effect of income on trust: evidence from the 2009 economic crisis in Russia

By Maxim Ananyev, Sergei Guriev

Scholars have long argued that social trust contributes to economic growth and development. This paper looks at the relationship between income and trust by taking data from Russia, where GDP dropped by 8 per cent in 2009. We find that a drop in income is associated with a decrease in social trust, and that economic recovery following the crisis did not fully restore trust to its pre-crisis level.