Modelling Political Trust in a Developing Country

Abstract: Jamaica is not atypical in its high levels of corruption, nor is it surprising that there is a low degree of public trusts in government – only 8 out of 100 people trust the government. One of the measures that can be used as an approximation for the public’s distrust in government is the increasing decline in voting behaviour in elections, and the increase in unconventional political participation over the last half a decade. Within the context of the aforementioned issues, we will be examining the factors that account for this reality, as well as the extent of trust (or distrust) in the government and in interpersonal relationships in Jamaica from an econometric perspective. And so we will seek to build a model that explains the people’s trust in government. This study utilizes prim ary observational data collected by the Centre of Leadership and Governance