THE COMPARISON OF GENERALIZED TRUST BETWEEN PLACE OF RESIDENCE: A CASE STUDY OF NORTH MACEDONIA
THE COMPARISON OF GENERALIZED TRUST BETWEEN PLACE OF RESIDENCE: A CASE STUDY OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Summary/Abstract: Generalized trust is a form of social capital that fosters co-operation among groups of people, thereby contributing to economic develop-ment. But is the level of generalized trust influenced by the place of residence?This paper explores the distribution of generalized trust between individualswith residence in the big city of Skopje and smaller towns and rural areas inNorth Macedonia. A multiple regression model is used to analyse the differencein generalized trust from a sample of 1.453 individuals based on cross-section-al data from the author’s research conducted from December 2023 to January2024 in North Macedonia. Furthermore, the model includes control demo-graphic variables and proxy measures for people’s social networks, personali-ty traits, positive experiences, and quality of local government. Results supportthe paper’s thesis that generalized trust is higher among individuals living inthe city of Skopje than among individuals living in smaller towns and ruralareas. Furthermore, additional tests suggest that the difference in generalizedtrust is associated with the place of residence among people with similar edu-cation and income levels. These findings provide evidence for the exception tothe thesis that in developing countries, generalized trust is lower in big urbanareas in comparison with smaller places.

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