Social participation and social isolation - Products Statistical working papers

The paper aims to provide empirical evidence on social participation across Europe. We use the term "social participation", rather than "social capital", as we do not focus on its character as a resource, as a means for productive activities. Are there distinct country clusters based on geographical location or cultural proximity? Do these clusters differ for alternative measures of social engagement? Or is there a common pattern, highlighting that some countries are simply more "social" than others in various ways? Similarly, is being "social" an individual personality trait: is engagement in one way related to other social activities? We can intuitively assume that meeting friends makes people happy. How much is it so, for example compared to the effect of income? Is helping and volunteering a source of contentment, or rather do they decrease the well-being of the helper?