Bilateral Trust Database

How much do the residents of 30 European countries trust each other?

The Dataset

  • 30 countries across Europe
  • 900 country pairs (30 × 30 matrix)
  • 2022 survey by Respondi
  • Nationally representative samples
  • 4 trust measures: levels and bias (i.e., residualized) versions of both share and average trust

The Four Trust Measures

1. Share (trust_rspdi): Percentage of respondents in the origin country expressing "a lot of trust" toward the destination country (0–100%).

2. Average (trust_rspdi2): Average trust score across respondents in the origin country, measured on a 1–4 scale where 1 = "no trust at all" and 4 = "a lot of trust".

3. Bias in Share (trustbias_rspdi): Residualized share measure after removing origin and destination country fixed effects. Isolates bilateral trust beyond home-country and destination-country baseline preferences.

4. Bias in Average (trustbias_rspdi2): Residualized average measure after removing origin and destination country fixed effects. Captures bilateral trust patterns independent of country-level baselines.

About This Research

This dataset was collected in 2022 as part of research into how cultural stereotypes shape financial decision-making. The survey measures bilateral trust between residents of European countries and reveals persistent patterns of trust bias that correlate with national stereotypes.

The data supports findings from Cultural Stereotypes of Multinational Banks (Eichengreen & Saka, 2026, JEEA), which documents how trust biases influence multinational bank behavior in sovereign bond markets.

How to Cite:

Eichengreen, B. & Saka, O. (2026). Cultural Stereotypes of Multinational Banks. Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 24, Issue 2, p. 567–609.

This version of the database: Eichengreen & Saka (2026), available at orkunsaka.com

Trust Heatmap

Hover over cells to see bilateral trust scores. Rows are origin countries (where respondents are from), columns are destination countries (whom they trust).

Data: 2022 survey, 30 European countries. Lighter blue = lower trust, gold = higher trust.

Country Explorer

Select a country to see how its residents trust others and how others trust them.

How Austria trusts others

How others trust Austria

Get the Data

Download the complete bilateral trust dataset. Includes raw trust measures and residualized values for all 900 country pairs.

For questions or to learn more, contact: o.saka@citystgeorges.ac.uk