Migrants trust in Danish institutions

Whether migrants assimilate to the welfare attitudes of native Danes is intimately linked to trust in state institutions. Trust in public institutions and those in charge of them is pivotal for public support for building and maintaining a welfare state. This is one of the most basic theoretical arguments derived from rational choice inspired political scientists. Corruption and arbitrariness in public administration makes the public question whether taxes are collected and spent/redistributed in a procedurally just and efficient way. Thus, institutional trust is believed to be a necessary condition for supporting a welfare state. The results show that that migrants in Denmark display very high trust in the Danish state. This holds true for all the 14 most-different migrant groups. This finding is consistent with previous research which have found migrants in other contexts to display an “over-confidence” in destination-country institutions.