This paper investigates the interplay between social capital, innovation and economic growth in the European Union. We … identify innovation as an important mechanism that transforms social capital into economic growth. In an empirical … investigation of 102 European regions in the period 1990-2002, we show that higher innovation performance is conducive to economic …

innovation output and economic growth for regions of the European Union from 1990-2002. Using several measures of social capital … and innovation, and the European Union’s Objective 1, 2 and 5b figures for EU regional support, the estimates suggest that …