Manuel P. Teodoro is Associate Professor at the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He works at the intersection of politics, policy, and management, with a focus on water in the United States. His research involves utility governance, regulation, and environmental justice. A prolific speaker, blogger, and author of Bureaucratic Ambition (2011), Teodoro has advised water sector leaders for more than twenty-five years.

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The burgeoning bottled water industry presents a paradox: Why do people choose expensive, environmentally destructive bottled water, rather than cheaper, sustainable, and more rigorously regulated tap water? The Profits of Distrust links citizens' choices about the water they drink to civic life more broadly, marshalling a rich variety of data on public opinion, consumer behavior, political participation, geography, and water quality. Basic services are the bedrock of democratic legitimacy. Failing, inequitable basic services cause citizen-consumers to abandon government in favor of commercial competitors. This vicious cycle of distrust undermines democracy while commercial firms reap the profits of distrust - disproportionately so from the poor and racial/ethnic minority communities. But the vicious cycle can also be virtuous: excellent basic services build trust in government and foster greater engagement between citizens and the state. Rebuilding confidence in American democracy starts with literally rebuilding the basic infrastructure that sustains life.