Social Capital and Individual Happiness in Europe

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose and Viola von Berlepsch
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Viola von Berlepsch: London School of Economics

No 25, Bruges European Economic Research Papers from European Economic Studies Department, College of Europe

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between social capital and happiness both in Europe as a whole, as well as in its four main geographical macro-regions – North, South, East and West – separately. We test the hypothesis of whether social capital, in its three-fold definition established by Coleman (1988) – trust, social interaction, and norms and sanctions – influences individual happiness across European countries and regions. The concept of social capital is further enriched by incorporating Putnam- (1993) and Olson- (1982) type variables on associational activity. Using ordinal logistic regression analysis on data for 48,583 individuals from 25 European countries, we reach three main findings. First, social capital matters for happiness across the three dimensions considered. Second, the main drivers of the effects of social capital on happiness appear to be informal social interaction and general social, as well as institutional trust. And third, there are significant differences in how social capital interacts with happiness across different areas of Europe, with the connection being at is weakest in the Nordic countries.

Keywords: social capital; happiness; trust; social interaction; norms and effective sanctions; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 D71 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2012-12
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Journal Article: Social Capital and Individual Happiness in Europe (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:coe:wpbeer:25

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