When Generalized Trust Matters? Impact of Industrial Tertiarization on Trade Preference Formation.

This article examines how generalized trust—defined as trust in strangers—affects public support for free trade and trade agreements, focusing on the role of local economic structure, specifically industrial tertiarization (the shift from agriculture and manufacturing to services). Using data from the 2016 American National Election Studies and the World Values Survey Wave 7, the study finds that generalized trust significantly influences trade preferences primarily in highly tertiarized, service-centered local economies where the economic impacts of trade are less visible and more uncertain to citizens. In contrast, in areas dominated by primary and secondary industries, where trade effects are more tangible, generalized trust has little effect on trade attitudes. The findings contribute to understanding anti-globalism in developed countries and suggest that the relative importance of economic versus non-economic factors in shaping trade preferences varies with the level of local tertiarization.