Using comparable survey data from twelve European countries we investigate households' attitudes towards mortgage … households have a mortgage outstanding relative to countries where a sizeable part of the population uses mortgage debt, like the … reference households, and crucially so in countries with less expanded mortgage markets. Thus it appears that households …

psychological disposition and environmental factors, as theory requires if optimism is to be a causal influence on entrepreneurship …

with disdain for work. We propose an economic theory of preference formation where both the divergence of attitudes across … social classes and the ensuing reversal of economic fortunes are equilibrium outcomes. In our theory, parents shape their …