Breathe
By María Fernanda Cobo M.
Trust is a social capital, a civic asset, a public good. The decision to trust a government, a company, a civil association is a game with three interdependent variables: truth, efficiency and commitment; which are the rules that determine whether a government, a company or an association is worthy of a society's trust or whether they are the expression of political, business or social opportunism evidenced in a defrauded society.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, Latin America is polarized by four forces: economic concern, institutional imbalance, social division and the struggle for truth. In 2024, a new factor takes the pulse of the promise of prosperity: innovation, which at the same time is questioned when the region, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, invests on average only 0.5% of GDP in Research and Development (R&D), compared to the world average of around 2.5% of GDP and is far from countries like South Korea or Israel, which exceed 4% of GDP.
Economic concern becomes a determinant of social pessimism where personal economic fears, mainly focused on employment and inflation, are on a par with social fears, such as security, climate change, nuclear and computer warfare. Income inequality creates two realities of trust: 60% of the population feels their country divided and with a weak shared identity. The control and power of interest groups prevails, turning ideology into a source of social identity and individual well-being; while the social fabric suffers from a lack of civility, mutual respect and common purpose.
In Mexico, the institutional imbalance is exacerbated when government is perceived 53 points less competent and ethical than business and NGOs. This imbalance is exacerbated when Mexicans consider that government leaders, reporters and journalists, and business leaders feed the cycle of distrust and are seen as a source of false or misleading information.
In terms of innovation, confidence lies mainly with scientists and companies. People are more enthusiastic about green energy, while artificial intelligence and genetically based medicine are caught between the dilemmas of resistance and optimism. In general terms, innovation is considered to be poorly managed. Fifty percent of Mexican citizens believe that science should be communicated in a transparent and accessible way to the public, and 59% believe that science has become politicized. An important finding is that 60% of the population believes that if companies partnered with the government they would trust innovation and its implementation more.
A trustworthy player honors the trust placed in him. Restoring economic optimism, reducing the public-private institutional gap, advocating truth and shared innovation are necessary actions to get out of the dirty game of opportunism that damages our social trust.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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