Steve Utterwulghe

Since the Edelman Company began tracking trust with its Trust Barometer, never has the world seen such an “implosion of trust.” In 2017, two-thirds of countries fell into “distruster” territory with trust levels of below 50 percent. Governments are now distrusted by investors in 75 percent of countries, and the same is the case for business in 46 percent.

To paraphrase the American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, “distrust is very expensive.” If you apply his thought to policymaking in the field of economics or the business environment, one quickly realizes that the lack of trust between the government and the private sector can indeed be very costly.

Governments, unwilling to engage with the private sector, will use their state authority to impose policies and regulations that may have a negative on the business environment, subsequently increasing the level of distrust in the government. — blog.wb.org/blogs