This paper carries out an assessment of the influence that different kinds of social ties exert on labour precariousness, on the state of health of urban environments and on the economic performance in Italy. Overall, the empirical evidence shows that weak ties connecting members of voluntary...

This paper carries out an empirical assessment of the relationship between social capital and the quality of economic development in Italy. The analysis draws on a dataset collected by the author including about two hundred variables representing different aspects of economic development and...

The aim of this paper is to trace a map of Italian local social capital endowments. It focuses on the “structural” dimension of the concept, as identified with social networks. The analysis is based on a dataset collected by the author including about two hundred indicators of five main...

Nell’ultimo Rapporto sullo Sviluppo Umano delle Nazioni Unite, si afferma che gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo del Millennio potranno essere raggiunti solo se acquisteranno significato per i miliardi di individui per i quali sono stati concepiti. La gestione diretta degli aiuti internazionali da...

This paper carries out an empirical assessment of the relationship between social capital and the quality of economic development in Italy. The analysis draws on a dataset collected by the author including about two hundred variables representing different aspects of economic development and...

This paper provides an introduction to the concept of social capital, and carries out a critical review of the empirical literature on social capital and economic development. The survey points out six main weaknesses affecting the empirics of social capital. Identified weaknesses are then used...

We use a set of established growth models, which simultaneously include human capital and R&D, to show that the effect of mortality rate in human capital accumulation is quantitatively more important than the effect of perfectly guaranteed patents on research. First, we show that the effect of...

This paper carries out an empirical assessment of the relationship between social capital and the quality of economic development in Italy. The analysis draws on a dataset collected by the author including about two hundred variables representing different aspects of economic development and...

The contribution of this paper to the social capital literature is twofold. Drawing on the Italian data, it firstly provides a new framework for measurement, allowing to build indicators for five different components of the multidimensional concept of social capital. Secondly, it provides a...

The purpose of this article is to outline the core principles of Integrative Improvement (II) in comparison with current development approaches, describe key features of II and briefly comment on II in relation to the Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) approach of the United Kingdom Department for...