Social Capital and National Innovativeness – The Influence of Trust and Tolerance on the National Capacity to Innovate

While national innovativeness is of pivotal relevance for economic development, so far, relatively little attention has been paid to the social drivers of innovativeness. Thus, the role of social norms and values as drivers of innovativeness is somewhat blurry. Tackling this gap, this article reflects on the concepts of social capital, trust, and tolerance before a model of social capital and innovativeness is developed and tested empirically. This is followed by the presentation and discussion of the results and a brief conclusion.