Social Trust As State Capacity

Social trust as state capacity is the governance layer in How to beat the resource curse in Norway (Summer School). Hilde Bjornland says Norway already had democracy, a strong tax system, and high trust in public institutions when oil production began, making it easier to tax, regulate, save, and redistribute resource wealth.

The concept differs from Social Trust And Happiness, which focuses on interpersonal trust and youth happiness. Here trust is a fiscal and institutional asset: citizens are more likely to accept taxation and delayed gratification when they believe institutions are legitimate enough to steward shared wealth.

Key Claims

• Trust can lower the political cost of taxing private extraction and saving public revenue.
• Social trust helps make restraint credible because future-oriented rules depend on confidence in public institutions.
• Resource wealth can still create pressure, but high trust gives a state more room to say no to immediate spending.

Connections

• Norway, Hilde Bjornland, and Norwegian Oil Fund - source case.
• Resource Curse Governance and Sovereign Oil Fund Governance - policy mechanisms supported by trust.
• Political Resource Curse and Oil Revenue Dependence - governance failures this trust layer can help prevent.
• Social Trust And Happiness - adjacent personal and social-wellbeing concept.