Bart Nooteboom undertakes to produce a clearer definition of trust and its role in the economy. Trust, now available in paperback, deals with a range of questions such as: what are the roles of trust? What can we trust in? Can trust serve as an instrument for the governance of relations? Is trust a substitute, a precondition or an outcome of contracts? The author then goes on to analyze what trust is based on, what its limits are, how it grows and how it can also break down. The role of intermediaries is also discussed. Bart Nooteboom argues that trust goes beyond calculative self-interest and that blind, unconditional trust is unwise. He then examines the paradox of how trust can be non-calculative and yet not blind. The book also reveals ways to measure and model trust, its antecedents and its consequences.