In Europe differences among countries in the overall change in happiness since the early 1980s have been due chiefly to the generosity of welfare state programs - increasing happiness going with increasing generosity and declining happiness with declining generosity. This is the principal...

Social capital according to OECD definition is networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups. Currently, social capital is identified as a one of the key factors of economic development. Most of the existing literature focuses...

This research is an attempt to assess the impact of trust, helpfulness, and fairness on economic growth in Europe. The first part of the paper highlights the concept of social capital and the related concept of trust, while the second part gives an overview of selected research hitherto...