Income inequality and social trust

Andrea Albertazzi; Patrick Lown; Friederike Mengel

doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112675

Income inequality and social trust

Andrea Albertazzi^*
, Patrick Lown
, Friederike Mengel

^*Corresponding author for this work

Behavioural Economics

IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca
University of Essex

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

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Abstract

We study how economic inequality affects social trust. We test this relationship both using correlational evidence from a large social survey of British youth as well as novel causal evidence from a series of online experiments. We find causal evidence that higher inequality has a negative impact on social trust. By contrast, a high relative position leads to higher social trust in both samples. In times where inequality is on the rise these findings are cause for concern.

Original language	English
Article number	112675
Journal	Economics Letters
Volume	257
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112675
Publication status	Published - Dec 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

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abstract = "We study how economic inequality affects social trust. We test this relationship both using correlational evidence from a large social survey of British youth as well as novel causal evidence from a series of online experiments. We find causal evidence that higher inequality has a negative impact on social trust. By contrast, a high relative position leads to higher social trust in both samples. In times where inequality is on the rise these findings are cause for concern.",

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AU - Mengel, Friederike

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AB - We study how economic inequality affects social trust. We test this relationship both using correlational evidence from a large social survey of British youth as well as novel causal evidence from a series of online experiments. We find causal evidence that higher inequality has a negative impact on social trust. By contrast, a high relative position leads to higher social trust in both samples. In times where inequality is on the rise these findings are cause for concern.

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DO - 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112675

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VL - 257

JO - Economics Letters

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Income inequality and social trust

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

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