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...

A major objective of this study is to analyse the evolutionary patterns of regional linkages and disparities across the EU space, especially those related to rural and peripheral/remote regions. In particular, this report assesses the economy-wide effects, in terms of GDP and employment,...

In this paper we develop a formal model of economic growth and two types of social capital. Following extant literature, we model social capital as participation in two types of social networks: first, closed networks of family and friends, and, second, open networks that bridge different...

For a cross-section of 123 European regions, we find evidence for a positive effect of generalized trust on regional innovation activity. We aim to identify causal effects by using instrumental variables from climate and soil data, drawing from recent literature on the effects of climate on...

Area 5 focuses on the regional and local dimensions of the new European path to socio-ecological transition. Its central assumption is that any strategy developed to enhance a socio-ecological transition is unlikely to yield strong results unless the resources of regional and local actors are...

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...