The effects of trust on victimization in Colombia

Abstract

The allegedly complex relationship between trust and victimization has rarely been modeled and, when done, the effect of trust on victimization has been found not statistically significant. This study finds otherwise, estimating an instrumental model with community data from Cali, Colombia. Cali’s dismal levels of victimization were only second to Medellin, the most violent city of the world in the 1990s. But Cali also pioneered a strategy of social capital formation as the backbone of a deliberate public policy to crack down on high levels of crime. This article first develops a model of victimization that includes interpersonal trust as determinant and then instruments interpersonal trust with district-level average trust. We argue that an individual-specific level of trust in his or her community members does not affect the community level of interpersonal trust in the margin. However, the levels – or perceived levels – of interpersonal trust in the community may affect the specific level of trust of an individual in other members of that community, along with personal characteristics and experience. Using GMM estimates, this study finds evidence of a relationship between interpersonal trust and victimization, statistically significant and negative in sign. The result is robust across specifications of trust, victimization, and estimating techniques. We conclude that increasing trust in trusting communities contributes to reducing victimization in its own right, although the effect is modest. Consequently, strengthening interpersonal trust is another bullet to combat victimization but it is not a silver bullet.

Humanitarian Crises and Adolescent Well‐being: Knowledge, Gaps, and Prospects

“…Similar positive findings are reported in various contexts with regard to increased altruism, strengthened social cohesion, and greater civic and political participation (De Luca and Verpoorten, 2015a;Gilligan et al, 2014;Voors et al, 2012). Yet, other analyses find a negative association between conflict and social trust (Cuesta and Alda, 2012;De Luca and Verpoorten, 2015b;Kijewski and Freitag, 2018;Rohner et al, 2013).…”

The role of social capital in the victimization risk against property: evidence from Brazil*

“…It is also expected that the age variable, subdivided into four sub-groups, is negatively correlated with risk of victimization, since younger individuals are more exposed to the risk of victimization than older individuals Alda, 2012;Kassouf, 2013;Scorzafave et al, 2015).…”

“…A number of empirical studies have tested the relationship between social capital and crime. In the international literature, one can highlight studies by Akçomak and Weel (2012), Cuesta and Alda (2012), Blanco and Ruiz (2013) and Corbacho et al (2014). In the Brazilian literature, the only empirical analysis that considers the connection between social capital and crime can be found in Peixoto et al (2012).…”

The Hearts and Minds in Conflict and Peace

“…Cassar, Grosjean, and Whitt (2013), Cuesta and Alda (2012), Luca and Verpoorten (2015), and Rohner, Thoenig, and Zilibotti (2013), yet there is only a handful of studies devoted to the topic of trust in government. These studies found that satisfaction with government services is a strong predictor of trust in government (Askvik, Jamil, and Dhakal, 2011;Hutchison and Johnson, 2011;Sacks and Larizza, 2012;Stoyan et al, 2016), a finding consistent with studies in developed countries.…”

“…The use of the community-average as an instrument is based on the idea that social capital usually affects an individual's perception through socialization (Putnam, 1993). This community-level variable is exogenous to individuals because a random person is usually not powerful enough to influence the perception of the leaders at the community level (Cuesta and Alda, 2012). I also included the variable Visit as a part of my over-identification strategy.…”