Crime and Trust : Does an increase in reported crime rates negatively impact trust in Sweden?

Abstract: In this thesis I investigate if an increase in reported crimes has a negative effect on interpersonal trust and trust in the police force in Sweden. Using a linear fixed effects model, I look at reported crime on the county level over the past 30 years and try to isolate the effect of reported crime on trust. The significance of the results are sensitive to changes in the model specification, the coefficients are small, and even though the signs of the coefficients are in line with the hypothesis, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from the data on how reported crime affects trust in Sweden. Further research with additional data is needed to better analyze the consequences of crime for trust in society.