Infectious diseases and interpersonal trust: international evidence

Diego Gonzalez-Medina, Quan V. Le
DOI: 10.4236/health.2011.34037                

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between infectious disease and trust, hypothesizing a negative relationship. In- terpersonal trust is defined as the aggregate response that fellow citizens are trustworthy. We explore stigma as a channel in the relationship. We apply cross-country regression analysis on a sample of 54 countries. We test our hypothesis using data on selected infectious diseases from the World Health Statistics (WHS) published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and data on trust from the World Values Surveys (WVS). We create an index of infectious disease using factor analysis. The OLS regression equation includes control variables of income inequality, per capita income and human capital. The empirical results are considerably robust showing that higher cases of infectious diseases are negatively associated with trust when controlling for macroeconomic and social variables.

Keywords

Trust; Stigma; Social Capital; Infectious Disease; HIV/AIDS

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Zak, P. and Knack, S. (2001) Trust and growth. The Economic Journal, 470, 295-321. doi:10.1111/1468-0297.00609
[2]	Wang, H., Schlesinger, M. and Hsiao, W.C. (2008) The flip-side of social capital: The distinctive influences of trust and mistrust on health in rural China. Social Science & Medicine, 68, 133-142. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.09.038
[3]	Gupta, A.K. (2004) Integrated approach for leprosy elimination in India. Journal of Development and Social Transformation, 1, 31-36.
[4]	Gostin, L. and Hodge, J. (1999) Reforming state public health law. Turning Point. http://www.publichealthlaw.net/Resources/ResourcesPDFs/Alaska.pdf.
[5]	Anderson, M., Elam, G., Gerver, S., Solarin, I., Fenton, K. and Easterbrook, P. (2008) HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination: Accounts of HIV-positive Caribbean people in the United Kingdom. Social Science & Medicine, 67, 790-798. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.05.003
[6]	Citrin, D. (2006) Somali tuberculosis cultural profile. http://ethnomed.org/clinical/tuberculosis/somali-tb-cultural-profile.
[7]	Setbon, M., Raude, J. and Pottratz, D. (2008) Chikungunya on Réunion Island: Social, environmental and behavioural factors in an epidemic context. Population, 63, 491-518. doi:10.3917/pope.803.0491
[8]	Baral, S.C., Deepak, K.K. and Newell, J.N. (2007) Causes of stigma and discrimination associated with tuberculosis in Nepal: A qualitative study. BMC Public Health, 7, 211. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-7-211
[9]	Herek, G.M., Mitnick, L., Burris, S., Chesney, M., Devine, P., Fullilove, M.T., Fullilove, R., Gunther, H.C., Levi, J., Michaels, S., Novick, A., Pryor, J., Snyder, M. and Sweeney, T. (1998) Workshop report: AIDS and stigma: A conceptual framework and research agenda. AIDS Public Policy Journal, 13, 36-47.
[10]	Zak, P. and Fakhar, A. (2006) Neuroactive hormones and interpersonal trust: International evidence. Economics and Human Biology, 4, 412-429. doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2006.06.004
[11]	Barro, R. (1991) Economic growth in a cross section of countries. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106, 407-443. doi:10.2307/2937943
[12]	World Health Organization: World Health Statistics. 2009: 50-69. http://www.who.int/entity/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.pdf.
[13]	Knack, S. and Keefer, P. (1997) Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. Quarterly of Journal Economics, 112, 1251-1288 doi:10.1162/003355300555475
[14]	Inglehart, R. et al. (2000) World values surveys and European values surveys, 1981-1984, 1990-1993 and 1995-1997. ICPSR Study No. 2790, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.
[15]	Inglehart, R., Basá?ez, M., Díez-Medrano, J., Halman, L. and Luijkx, R. (2004) Human beliefs and values, a cross-cultural sourcebook based on the 1999-2002 values surveys. siglo XXI editores, S. A. de C.V., Mexico.
[16]	Keefer, P. and Knack, S. (2002) Polarization, politics and property rights: Links between inequality and growth. Public Choice, 111, 127-154 doi:10.1023/A:1015168000336
[17]	World Development Indicators 2009. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.