Trust on the part of citizens in public institutions and in particular in the financial system must have been damaged by the financial crisis. Research has shown that trust and approval of the market economy are an important ingredient in shaping policy. One key question is now to what extent has trust in both markets and institutions been damaged by the crisis and what consequences could one expect from this. Calls for tighter regulation, not only for financial markets, are now appearing almost everywhere. Is a new ‘public interventionism’ unavoidable? Will it actually lead to better regulation?