Credibility, trust, and perception of authorities’ performance

The credibility of an institution is, almost, synonymous with how well it is trusted. This column uses survey data to examine how trust in various institutions – the government, parliament, the EU, the IMF, and the World Bank – is affected by respondents’ views on aspects of the economy (their own financial situation, the need for economic growth, and the need to fight inflation). When respondents feel most concerned with the need to prevent inflation, trust in all the various institutions of authority has become lower, while it is marginally higher when respondents cite economic growth as one of their most important concerns.