THE CONDITIONS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: EXPLORING THE LEGITIMACY OF SOCIAL NORMS, TRUST AND CORRUPTION IN CHILE AND ARGENTINA

DANIEL MIGUEZ; MATIAS DEWEY

MPFiG Discussion Paper

Max Planck Institut for the Study of Societies

Lugar: Colonia; Año: 2018 vol. 0 p. 1 - 32

0944-2073

A growing body of research, based on large-scale international comparisons, has associated socioeconomic development with several intervening factors, such as the levels of respect for social norms, interpersonal trust, the degrees of confidence in state institutions or the incidence of corruption in governmental bodies. This article contributes to this body of scholarship comparing the differentiated socioeconomic development experienced by Chile and Argentina between 1983 and 2013. Specifically, the paper inquires if the greater socio-economic development experienced by Chile was actually related to higher levels of legitimacy of the law, higher levels of trust in public institutions, lower levels of perceived corruption and higher levels of interpersonal trust. Results of this exploration do not totally confirm or disprove the former thesis. Instead, they reveal, not only the need for a nuanced approach to how these factors relate to socioeconomic progress, but also that their forms of association need to be considered as part of politically, socially and economically fluctuating conditions.