Social trust as the Nordic X-factor:A double-edged sword?

The Nordic countries are known for their exceptionally high levels of social trust,<br/>helpfulness, and wealth. High social trust among a large majority of honest, trustworthy hard-riders may indeed help explain why welfare systems in these countries have not collapsed despite their evident downside: strong incentives for exploitation by what we term easy-riders within the populations. These ‘friendly’<br/>and highly democratic states provide generous social benefits, and they are therefore subject to relatively easy and almost risk-free exploitation if hard-riders exhibit blind trust and fail to reveal and discipline the easy-riders in the given<br/>socio-political context