The typical narrative regarding the evolution of world trade prior to World War II refers to a secular rise starting around 1870 and a subsequent collapse beginning in 1914. This narrative, however, is based on measures of trade openness that do not fully take into account purchasing power...

This research studies the dynamic interplay between the evolution of risk attitudes and the process of economic development. This is achieved by integrating an endogenous growth model with a cultural transmission mechanism that captures how parents shape the risk attitudes of their children in...

type="main" xml:lang="en" <p>To what extent does the cultural composition of a society impose a constraint on its long-run growth potential? We study this question in the context of an innovation-based model of growth where cultural attitudes are endogenously transmitted from one generation to the...</p>

This paper critically assesses the role of culture in determining the quality of institutions. Employing various measures of cultural differences, I find that only differences related to the degree of individualism in society and the extent to which inequality in the distribution of power is...

The typical narrative regarding the evolution of world trade prior to World War II refers to a secular rise that started around 1870 and a subsequent collapse that began in 1914. This narrative, though, is based on measures of trade openness that do not fully take into account purchasing power...

Beugelsdijk S. and Van Schaik T. (2005) Differences in social capital between 54 Western European regions, Regional Studies 39 , 1053-1064. Based on the extant literature, a newly developed index measuring social capital at the regional level in Europe is presented. It is shown that there are...

Beugelsdijk S., Van Schaik T. and Arts W. (2006) Toward a unified Europe? Explaining regional differences in value patterns by economic development, cultural heritage and historical shocks, Regional Studies 40, 317-327. The concept of the 'Europe of the regions' has given rise to the question of...

Economists increasingly pay attention to social capital as an important determinant of macroeconomic growth performance. At the same time, there is discussion regarding the robustness of the results of empirical growth studies. In a seminal paper, Knack and Keefer (1997) assess the effect of...