We use novel and unique survey data from Italy to shed light on key questions regarding the measurement of social capital and the use of social capital indicators for empirical work. Our data cover a sample of over 600,000 respondents interviewed between 2000 and 2015. We identify four distinct...

This chapter reviews the theory of the voluntary public and private redistribution of wealth elaborated by economic analysis in the last forty years or so. The central object of the theory is altruistic gift-giving, construed as benevolent voluntary redistribution of income or wealth. The theory...

The article studies an alternative model of thinking, relevant to the main trend of the general economic theory. It is elaborated in details in economics. The author defends his thesis, that another approach is required, the so-called "Organic Entity Approach", consisting of: 1) a philosophic...

Welfare economics relies on consequentialism even though many philosophers have questioned this assumption. Survey evidence, based on a representative sample in Sweden, is presented here suggesting that most people’s ethical perceptions are consistent with consequentialism.

Eine Oekonomie des Glaubens zu schreiben ist gewagt, weil sie das, was die Religion ausmacht, zu verfehlen droht. Aber wenn sich herausstellen koennte, dass sie mehr umfasste als eine Applikation des (mundanen) oekonomischen Denkens, und dennoch eine Logik zeigte, waere etwas gewonnen: Wir...

Mit Blick auf die Funktionslogik moderner Wirtschaftsgesellschaften zielt Karl Homanns Ansatz einer „oekonomischen Ethik“ auf die Rekonstruktion der Moral „in terms of economics“, um so moralische Forderungen direkt in die Funktionslogik der Oekonomie integrieren zu koennen. Moral, so...

In this chapter, we discuss the “lab-in-the-field” methodology, which combines elements of both lab and field experiments in using standardized, validated paradigms from the lab in targeting relevant populations in naturalistic settings. We begin by examining how the methodology has been...

Research in behavioral public finance has blossomed in recent years, producing diverse empirical and theoretical insights. This article develops a single framework with which to understand these advances. Rather than drawing out the consequences of specific psychological assumptions, the...

Harstad and Selten’s article in this forum performs a valuable service by highlighting the dominance of optimization-based models over boundedly rational models in modern microeconomics, and questioning whether optimization-based models are a better way forward than boundedly rational...

This paper examines theses of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum about the importance of pursuing goals of social justice through the capability approach. Are considered here the reasons of such a method, whose aim is to reach development of the capabilities of every human being. It is discussed...