Why Do Politicians Reform? Do They Know Something about the Drivers of Trust in Government?

The concept of trust in government has gained attention in development institutions as a measure of the overall quality of governments and as a potential metric for good governance (Cheema and Popovsk, 2010; World Bank, 2011; Dalton et al., 2000). Trends in trust have been closely examined by several recent studies, often with a sense of alarm regarding a potential long-term decline of confidence in governments. However, little work has been done to understand and empirically measure the drivers of trust in public institutions.