Abstract: This paper seeks to estimate the economic growth effect of constitutional provisions for property rights protection. It does so using the unique situation in formerly communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus where all but two introduced new constitutions after...

We look at the effect of religiosity on social trust, defined as the share of a population that thinks that people in general can be trusted. This is important since social trust is related to many desired outcomes, such as growth, education, democratic stability and subjective well-being. The...

Both institutional quality and institutional stability have been argued to stimulate economic growth. But to improve institutional quality, a country must endure a period of institutional change, which implies at least a little and possibly a lot of institutional instability. We investigate the...

Using cross-sectional data for 76 countries, we apply instrumental variable techniques based on pronoun drop, temperature and monarchies to demonstrate that historical trust levels predict several indicators of current welfare state design, including universalism and high levels of regulatory...

Using data from the World Value Survey we examine first and second generation immigrants’ attitudes towards income inequality and redistribution. We find that first generation immigrants are on average less favorable to redistribution compared to non-immigrants. This effect is particularly...

In this paper we analyze whether a firm’s return to its R&D stock is affected by seller-buyer interactions. We suggest that firms that are in close contact with their customers will be relatively more sensitive to their customers’ needs, and therefore adjust their R&D activities accordingly....

In the paper we look at the bank lending routines of Swedish banks and their consequences for <p> external financing of start-ups. Results from a questionnaire sent out to start-ups listed in the files of the Swedish interest organization “NyföretagarCentrum” were used. We looked at firms...</p>

Every year there is a substantial turbulence in an economy with respect to new firm formation and business closures. Each year, according to Tillväxtanalys (2009), about 100 000 Swedish employees lose their job due to a business closure. However, the share of firm closures vary substantially...

While the brave new world of digital technology is delivering intensive growth to some companies and individuals, the question remains whether that growth ‘trickles down’ or ‘spills over’ to other sectors of the economy rapidly enough to avoid the massive social disruptions seen in...

For more than three decades, China has managed to combine rapid economic growth with a heavily regulated financial sector. The discrepancy between economic and financial development has raised the question of whether China might be an exception to the so-called finance-growth nexus. This study...