This paper presents an application of the hedonic approach to measure the monetary price of social relations. We use micro data for housing and labor markets in the 103 Italian province capitals to estimate the price of relational amenities and construct monetary indices of quality of relational...

The main objective of this paper is to identify the role of intangible factors in the process of enterprise internationalization. In particular, in the era of turbo-capitalism, the informal institution of social capital becomes of global significance and covers both social norms and values such...

The article raises the issue of social capital in the context of building a knowledge-based economy. Globalization, the increasing mobility of factors of production and the development of information technology have all led compa-nies towards a stronger competitive struggle. Competing with...

This study analyzes the determinants of individual subjective well-being (happiness) in Italy by estimating microeconometric happiness equations in order to examine the effects of socio-demographic characteristics and economic conditions on subjective evaluations of happiness. Consistent with...

We study the effect of relational goods on life satisfaction. We consider that retirement is an event after which the time investable in personal relationships increases so we instrument social life, which we suspect of being endogenous, with the sample proportion of retired by year. With such...

Die Soziale Marktwirtschaft setzt in ihrer Ausgestaltung zum aktivierenden Sozialstaat auf Buergerschaftliches Engagement, das seit einigen Jahren verstaerkt von der Politik gefoerdert wird. Die Zivilgesellschaft uebernimmt und gestaltet dadurch u.a. Bereiche, die einst hoheitlich vom Staat...

In this paper we show how the investment in cultural events may encourage the building of social capital and foster the development of local communities. We rely on a case study we conducted on the socio-economic impact of “La Notte della Taranta” Festival, one of the most important European...

In the context of increasingly complex economies, with information more and more complicated to handle, social interaction may allow spontaneous co-operation and be more efficient than market or state regulations to overcome co-ordination and information problems. This article provides a...

We study the effect of civil conflict on social capital, focusing on the experience of Uganda during the last decade. Using individual and county-level data, we document large causal effects on trust and ethnic identity of an exogenous outburst of ethnic conflicts in 2002-05. We exploit two...