Inherited trust and informal finance
利用美国人口普查数据分离19个国家的继承信任成分，发现信任能提升企业获得贸易信贷的机会，尤其对融资困难的企业帮助更大，并促进销售增长。
Abstract This paper examines the impact of trust on informal financial development. We isolate the inherited component of trust for 19 countries using US census data and relate it to firms’ access to trade credit. We discover that trust disproportionately elevates the use of trade credit by companies that face obstacles to obtaining funds from formal channels. Further analyses show that the effect is more pronounced in finance‐dependent industries and that better access to trade credit promotes sales growth. Our results are robust to alternative samples, different estimations of inherited trust and various model specifications.