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Social capital in Europe from 1990 to 2012: trends, path-dependency and convergence

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  • Sarracino, Francesco
  • Mikucka, Malgorzata

Abstract

Social capital affects many social and economic outcomes; hence, it is important to monitor its changes over time. Previous literature on trends of social capital focused mainly on the case of US, devoting less attention to other regions of the world, such as Europe. This study uses WVS-EVS integrated data (1990-2012) to describe the trends of 10 proxies of social capital in 30 Western and Eastern European countries. The paper demonstrates that the convergence of social capital among European regions was limited, and it shows evidence of path dependency, especially in case of relational social capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarracino, Francesco & Mikucka, Malgorzata, 2015. "Social capital in Europe from 1990 to 2012: trends, path-dependency and convergence," MPRA Paper 63619, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:63619
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Diana Escandon-Barbosa & David Urbano-Pulido & Andrea Hurtado-Ayala, 2019. "Exploring the Relationship between Formal and Informal Institutions, Social Capital, and Entrepreneurial Activity in Developing and Developed Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-20, January.
    4. Urszula Markowska-Przybyła, 2020. "Does Social Capital Matter for Total Factor Productivity? Exploratory Evidence from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-25, November.
    5. Francesco Sarracino & Małgorzata Mikucka, 2019. "Consume More, Work Longer, and Be Unhappy: Possible Social Roots of Economic Crisis?," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 59-84, March.
    6. Habibov, Nazim & Cheung, Alex & Auchynnikava, Alena, 2017. "Does social trust increase willingness to pay taxes to improve public healthcare? Cross-sectional cross-country instrumental variable analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 25-34.
    7. Mikucka, Malgorzata & Sarracino, Francesco & Dubrow, Joshua K., 2017. "When Does Economic Growth Improve Life Satisfaction? Multilevel Analysis of the Roles of Social Trust and Income Inequality in 46 Countries, 1981–2012," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 447-459.
    8. Eric D Gould & Alexander Hijzen, 2016. "Growing Apart, Losing Trust? The Impact of Inequality on Social Capital," IMF Working Papers 2016/176, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Zoltán Lakner & Anna Kiss & Ivan Merlet & Judit Oláh & Domicián Máté & Janusz Grabara & József Popp, 2018. "Building Coalitions for a Diversified and Sustainable Tourism: Two Case Studies from Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-23, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social capital; convergence; path-dependency; trends; Europe; EVS WVS.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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