The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs provides thought leadership through its UN DESA Policy Briefs series, presenting timely and relevant analysis and policy guidance on global economic and social issues. Here we present the policy brief #108
Trust in public institutions: Trends and implications for economic security
The legitimacy of public institutions is crucial for building peaceful and inclusive societies.
While levels of trust in institutions vary significantly across countries, opinion surveys suggest that there has been a decline in trust in public institutions in recent decades.
Economic insecurity—which the COVID-19 crisis threatens to exacerbate—and perceptions of poor or corrupt government performance undermine the social contract and are closely linked to declines in institutional trust. Rebuilding public trust in the light of the current crisis demands services that work for everyone and jobs that provide income security, as well as more inclusive institutions.
The Code of Ethics of the Public Service of Catalonia
This code, was approved in october 2021 and constitutes a common ethical framework for all the people who work in the respective administrations and public sectors (politicians, civil servants, managers, advisers,...) as well as those who work in private organizations and entities that carry out effective public services on behalf of the administrations.The main objective of the Code is to guide the actions of public servants from the key of values, thus strengthening the integrity of their actions and thus helping to promote the improvement of public service, the improvement of democratic quality, and the recovery of the confidence of the citizenship in its institutions.
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