Does Open Government Pay? The Impact of Open Government on Trust in Public Institutions

Trust in public institutions plays a vital role in many economic and social outcomes. Studies have documented strong economic payoffs to trust, but less attention has been paid to the determinants of public trust in public institutions. Stevenson and Wolfers (2011) study the impact of the business cycle on public trust and show that a rising unemployment rate decreases public trust in institutions. This study builds upon Stevenson and Wolfers (2011) and systematically investigates the impacts of open government on trust in public institutions. We construct a new panel data set that covers 134 countries over 2006-2016. Using alternative measures of open government, we document that open governments, in general, have higher levels of public trust in a variety of public institutions. This study supports the finding in Stevenson and Wolfers (2011), and finds that different aspects of open government influences trust in an array of public institutions.

Navelski_Thesis_Gov_Openness_on_Institutional_Trust.pdf (3.9 MB)

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