Trust is an assumed background in standard economics, not a studied variable

Evidence

Trust is central to all transactions and yet economists rarely discuss the notion.! It is treated rather as background environment, present whenever called upon, a sort of ever-ready lubricant that permits voluntary participation in production and exchange. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 772

Categorization

• XREF: This conversational spot for trust as unexamined background connects to Luhmann’s point that familiarity is the taken-for-granted baseline that trust builds on. — connects to: Empirical trading experience can block acceptance of a theory’s core assumptions. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1106