It is now well established that highly developed countries tend to score well on measures of social capital and have higher levels of generalized trust. In turn, the willingness to trust has been shown to be correlated with various social and environmental factors (e.g. institutions, culture) on...

It is now well established that highly developed countries tend to score well on measures of social capital and have higher levels of generalized trust. In turn, the willingness to trust has been shown to be correlated with various social and environmental factors (e.g. institutions, culture) on...

Is human capital a robust predictor of good institutions? Using a new institutional quality measure, the International Property Rights Index (IPRI), we find that cognitive skill measures are significant, robust, and large in magnitude. We use two databases of cognitive skills: estimates of...

A recent line of research demonstrates that cognitive skills - intelligence quotient scores, math skills, and the like - have only a modest influence on individual wages, but are strongly correlated with national outcomes. Is this largely due to human capital spillovers? This paper argues that...

Several leading candidate countries will eventually enter the European Monetary Union (EMU). A key question is what exchange rate management policy should be pursued after joining the European Union (EU). This paper focuses on the impact of Euro-area monetary policy on Hungary. We find that...

While agriculture has historically shaped the rich biodiversity heritage of EU countries, over the last 60 years this synergistic relationship has been undermined. A 'polarisation' process has been operating, involving intensification and specialisation of agricultural production on land with...