[mft_]

Does the stealing come from the low-trust society, or does the societal situation drive people to theft, which we then label ‘low-trust’?

[zorked]

If there are extremely poor, high-trust societies, then trust is its own variable. If not, then it's a post-hoc explanation.

[mft_]

I suspect it's an imperfect correlation. Other factors like level of income inequality, efficacy/harshness of law enforcement, societal cohesion, would likely influence.