Abstract Because of its capacity to facilitate consensus, trust in government is vital to the functioning of democracies. And yet those interested in the concept continue to struggle with the sheer number and ambiguity of available definitions. This paper confronts theoretical notions of trust with available empirical evidence, and ultimately defines “trust in government” as the willingness to bear the immediate or expected material and ideological costs that arise from compliance with government action. This definition is useful because it keeps up with recent empirical findings, involves a particular channel of effect, and distinguishes trust in government from the positive perceptions and attitudes which are commonly confused with trust.

中文翻译：

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基于经验的政府信任概念

摘要由于对政府的信任具有促进共识的能力，因此对民主国家的运作至关重要。但是，那些对该概念感兴趣的人仍在为可用定义的数量庞大和模棱两可而苦苦挣扎。本文将理论信任的概念与可用的经验证据相抗衡，并最终将“对政府的信任”定义为愿意承担因遵守政府行动而产生的直接或预期的物质和意识形态成本。这个定义是有用的，因为它跟上最近的经验发现，涉及一个特定的效果渠道，并且将对政府的信任与通常与信任相混淆的积极看法和态度区分开来。