Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/210942 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IFN Working Paper No. 1301
Publisher: 
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Abstract: 
Consequences of social trust are comparatively well studied, while its societal determinants are often subject to debate. This paper studies both in the context of Catalan attempts to secede from Spain: First, we test if Catalonia enjoys higher levels of social capital that it is prevented from capitalizing on. Second, the paper examines whether secessionist movements create animosity and political divisions within society that undermine trust. Employing the eight available waves of the European Social Survey for Spain, we show that social trust levels are not higher in Catalonia than in the rest of the country. However, we find indications of a significant regional increase after secession became a real option in 2014. We argue that this finding is a likely result of the mental process of nation building, indicating that the formation of social trust may best be thought of as a stable punctuated equilibrium.
Subjects: 
Social trust
Secession
Social change
Stability
JEL: 
H77
R50
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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