re: Watching The Happiest Country on Earth: Finland on PBS

True, but on a societal level, ethno-religious hogemety increases social trust. People are more willing to pay higher taxes if they have more trust in their government and neighbors. Louisiana is a society with ZERO social trust. That’s why every state revenue source is constitutionally dedicated, because the voters have ZERO trust in their government to spend tax dollars on what they’re supposed to.

Social trust is a “chicken or the egg” question for governments. High trust means higher tax revenues which means better resources for providing higher quality services which earns more trust.

How do you build trust when your services are shitte and your constituents don’t trust you enough to give you any more money to improve services?