ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some concluding thoughts on the concepts discussed n the preceding chapters of this book. The book provides an overview of the literature on trust in government. This body of research naturally segued into an examination of why trust matters. Specifically, the book discusses how trust influences social capital issues such as voting behavior and participation in the political system. The review explored one final body of research related to agency credibility. The book introduces the reader to the underlying theory, Coleman's model of trust, which is at the heart of all of the social science research. After discussing two approaches to studying trust in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the book turns the focus to political/ideological variables, and seeks to determine the extent to which trust in the EPA was driven by generalized trust in the government. The full model of trust in the EPA adopts a traditional attitudinal approach to measuring trust.
