The Political Economy of Trust

“Farrell’s The Political Economy of Trust is a tour de force. His book takes us through the burgeoning literature on social trust, social capital, institutions, and networks. Farrell has done us a service by clearly distinguishing among these terms, carefully carving out a distinct analytical space for each concept, and identifying their respective explanatory purchase. One of his main goals is to show that the concept of trust provides a deeper understanding of cooperation than institutions by themselves. He succeeds brilliantly. “Farrell’s masterful treatment of the literatures on social capital, culture, and rational choice approaches to institutions provides us with a more complete picture of the causes and consequences of institutions. His case studies of firms in Emilia Romagna, Italy and Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, along with his final chapter on the Mafia in Sicily provide the ideal material to illustrate his complex ideas and demonstrate their empirical grounding.” -James A. Caporaso, University of Washington

• Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; 2. A theory of institutions and trust; 3. Varieties of capitalism and industrial districts; 4. Trust and institutions in industrial districts; 5. Accounting for change in informal institutions; 6. Informal institutions without trust: relations among Mafiosi in Sicily; 7. Conclusions; Bibliography; Index.