Cultivating Trust: Norms, Institutions and the Implications of Scale
研究了诚实规范与制度的共同演化，发现新交易机会需要制度变革，而制度改善必须快于规范恶化才能摆脱机会主义；更大经济体更可能形成强诚实规范，但制度不一定更好。
We study the co‐evolution of honesty norms and institutions. New trading opportunities require institutional changes to be realised, since the initial vulnerability of institutions to opportunistic behaviour leads to the deterioration of norms. We show how an escape from opportunism requires that institutional improvements outpace norm deterioration. A key prediction emerges: larger economies are more likely to evolve to steady states with strong honesty norms but need not have better institutions. This prediction is tested using a cross‐section of countries; population has a significant positive relationship with trust, even when controlling for standard trust determinants and institutional quality.