After World War II (WW II), productivity growth in Europe and Japan was driven by catching up with the US. Institutions in Europe were different too and well suited for economic growth through imitation and adaptation of the technology to local circumstances. Catching up is, however, a self...

Beugelsdijk S. and Van Schaik T. (2005) Differences in social capital between 54 Western European regions, Regional Studies 39 , 1053-1064. Based on the extant literature, a newly developed index measuring social capital at the regional level in Europe is presented. It is shown that there are...

Beugelsdijk S., Van Schaik T. and Arts W. (2006) Toward a unified Europe? Explaining regional differences in value patterns by economic development, cultural heritage and historical shocks, Regional Studies 40, 317-327. The concept of the 'Europe of the regions' has given rise to the question of...

Pooled regressions, first of eight and then of sixteen countries, show a steady and robust process of endogenous growth in Europe since 1870, interrupted only by the events of World War II and the impact of convergence towards US levels of performance in the 1950s and the 1960s. This result...