Social capital, Social trust, Crowding-out hypothesis, Welfare state, Social spending. - The crowding-out hypothesis asserts that the state development tends to erode social capital, that is voluntary, familial, communal and other interpersonal ties become weaker; people lose the sense of moral...

"Almost twenty years after German reunification there are still huge income disparities between western and eastern regions in Germany. The main purpose of the paper is to show how social transfer payments reduce these inter-regional disparities. In a first step we examine inequalities in the...

"Almost twenty years after German reunification there are still huge income disparities between western and eastern regions in Germany. The main purpose of the paper is to show how social transfer payments reduce these inter-regional disparities. In a first step we examine inequalities in the...

"This work provides a new, comprehensive, and empirically grounded study of household incomes in China that critically examines the long-term rise and recent apparent decline in inequality. It covers incomes and inequality nationwide as well as separately in the urban and rural sectors, with...

In recent decades, a great deal of international comparative research has examined whether social policy crowds out or crowds in social trust. Although previous studies have made significant advances, we still have much to learn. First, the proxies of social policy adopted by earlier...