, Columnist
Want to Help the Economy? Learn to Trust.
People are losing faith in institutions and in one another. That's bad for growth.
Meeting new people is good for growth.
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It's hard to know whom you can trust anymore -- at least that's the attitude of many Americans today. Therein lies a crucial challenge for the world's largest economy.
Five years ago, Justin Wolfers and I examined data showing that trust in institutions such as Congress, banks and big business had plummeted during the recession, hitting an all-time low. Because historically trust had fallen as unemployment rose, we argued that it would increase as unemployment declined.