How does trust in institutions affect protest responses in environmental valuation surveys?

In environmental valuation surveys, some respondents state a zero willingness to pay that does not reflect their preferences. Among the rationale for such a value, I focus on mistrust in institutions. The results in the existing literature depends on whether the effect is identified by respondents' statements or by a random assignment of the managing institution. This paper tackle this issue using a new identification strategy. By merging country data on perception of institutions with meta-data from environmental valuation surveys, I am able to estimate the effect of trust in institutions on the protest responses in the surveys, wiping out the effect of each studies' specificities. Results show that trust in institutions is not a significant determinants of protest responses.