Home Page > Research Interests of Fabio Sabatini

Research interests of Fabio Sabatini

Fabio Sabatini received a PhD in Economics from the University of Rome La Sapienza and is currently Research Fellow at the University of Siena. He is rated among top 5% world economists by Ideas, the largest bibliographic database on Economics, according to these criteria. He has written numerous articles on social capital and he is the author and editor of Social Capital Gateway, website providing resources for social sciences awarded by the Journal of Economic Education as an exemplary material for teaching and learning economics.

He teaches European Economic Policy at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Siena, Economics of European Integration at the Faculty of Economics of the Open University Guglielmo Marconi, and Social Capital and Economic Development at the Master in Non-Farm Activities and Rural Development of the University of Rome La Sapienza.

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Current position, Education, Professional experience, Publications and manuscripts (Articles in peer-reviewed journals, Book chapters, Books, Working papers, PhD thesis), Seminars and conferences, Social capital web site.

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Go to my curriculum vitae

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Current Positions

• Research Fellow, University of Siena, Department of Economics.

• Research Associate, University of Rome La Sapienza, SPES Development Studies Research Centre.

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Other current professional activities

• Lecturer of European Economic Policy at the University of Siena, Faculty of Political Science.

• Lecturer of Economics of European Integration at the Università Telematica Guglielmo Marconi, Faculty of Economics.

• Lecturer of Social Capital and Economic Development at the Master in Non-Farm Activities and Rural Development in Developing Countries, University of Rome La Sapienza.

• Editor of the NEP (New Economics Papers) Report on Social Norms and Social Capital, and of the NEP Report on Human Capital and Human Resource Management within the RePEc Project. NEP Reports are sponsored by the State University of New York.

• Author and editor of the Social Capital Gateway, web site providing resources for the study of social capital acknowledged by the Journal of Economic Education as an exemplary material for teaching and learning economics.

• Referee for the following peer-reviewed journals: International Journal of Educational Research, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Economic Surveys, Journal of Socio-Economics, QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi Doria, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Rivista di Politica Economica, Scienze Regionali-Italian Review of Regional Sciences, Social Networks. Reviewer for Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

• Consultant of the University of Trento, Faculty of Economics, on a research project on the measurement of social capital in the Province of Trento.

• Consultant of the Associazione Studi e Ricerche per il Mezzogiorno on a research project on Social Capital and Economic Development in the Italian Mezzogiorno.

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Education

• June 2006, PhD in Economics, University of Rome La Sapienza. Thesis title: "An Inquiry into the empirics of social capital and economic development". Supervisors: Claudio Gnesutta (University of Rome La Sapienza) and Pier Luigi Sacco (IUAV University of Venice). Graduation Committee: Carlo Borzaga (University of Trento), Guido Cozzi (University of Macerata) and Francesco Farina (University of Siena).

• September 2001, enrollment with 3-year grant in the PhD programme in Political Economy, University of Rome La Sapienza. Courses successfully attendend during first two years: Econometrics, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Economics of Contracts, Dynamic systems for Economics and Management, History of Economic Thought, Linear Algebra and Optimization Theory, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Probability and Statistics, Uncertainty and General Equilibrum.

• March 2001, Laurea (University Degree) in Economics, University of Rome La Sapienza, Faculty of Economics. Dissertation: "The OECD's Economic Policy: Assessing the Jobs Strategy in Western Europe".
Distinction: 110/110 cum laude.

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Previous professional experience

• September 2007 - December 2007, Consultant at the International Project Office of the Università Telematica Guglielmo Marconi for the development of research projects to be submitted to the European Commission, with particular regard for the 7th European Framework Programme (7FP). Responsible for the development and management of the Collaborative project SOCIAL NET, ‘The role of social capital and public policy in determining EU development trajectories’, submitted to the 7FP. The project is coordinated by the UTGM and involves the University of Aarhus (Denmark), the Central European University (Hungary), the London South Bank University and the Kent County Council (UK), the Instituto de Estudios Superiores Financeiros e Fiscais (Portugal), the University of Geneva (Switzerland).

• July 2006 - July 2007, Holder of a Research Grant funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization for the research project The Role of FAO and IFAD in Building Social Capital in Rural Areas, hosted by the University of Padua, Department of Economics Marco Fanno.

• January 2006 - January 2007, Consultant of the University of Tuscia, Faculty of Economics, within the research project on "Social capital and local development: the case of Tuscia".

• October 2005 - November 2006, Research Fellow at the University of Cassino, Department of Economics.

• July 2006 - November 2006, Consultant of the Organisation for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Task: preparing a paper to be used at the seminar on Social Enterprise and Social Capital organised by the OECD LEED Centre for Local Development and the World Bank, Trento, 15-18 November 2006.

• August 2006 - October 2006, Consultant of Pol.i.s. Campania (Agency of the Campania Regional Government) for the organization of a Conference on Social capital and crime, held in Ottaviano (Naples).

• January 2006 - June 2006, Consultant of the University of Padua, Department of Economics “Marco Fanno”, within the research project on "Civil Economy and Microcredit".

• January 2006 - June 2006, Lecturer of Social Capital Theory at the Master in Non-Farm Activities and Rural Development in Developing Countries, University of Rome La Sapienza.

• January 2006 - June 2006, Consultant of the RESTRIM Project (Restructuring in Marginal Rural Areas: the role of social capital in rural development), a European Commission Framework Five funded project that examines the role of civil society in promoting economic competitiveness and quality of life for rural residents.

• March-May 2005, Lecturer of Social Capital Theory at the PhD Programme in Local Development Economics at the University of Cassino.

• June 2004 - May 2005 Consultant of the Research Group of the University of Rome La Sapienza, Faculty of Economics, on "A Plan of Services for Managing City", co-funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).

• November 2002 - October 2004 Member of the Research Programme on “Growth and well-being”, Faculty of Economics, University of Rome La Sapienza.

• September 2001 - September 2004 Teaching assistant for the courses of Advanced Economic Policy, Introduction to Political Economy, and Monetary Economics at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Rome La Sapienza. Teaching assistant for the course of International Economic Policy at the Faculty of Economics of the University LUISS Guido Carli.

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Publications and manuscripts

Articles in peer-reviewed journals (published, accepted or forthcoming)

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "Social Capital and the Quality of Economic Development", Kyklos, Vol. 61, Issue 3, in press.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "Does Social Capital Improve Labour Productivity in Small and Medium Enterprises?", International Journal of Management and Decision Making, Special Issue on Social Capital and Organisations, Vol. 9, Issue 5, in press.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2007), "Social Capital as Social Networks: a New Framework for Measurement", revised and resubmitted to the Journal of Socio-Economics.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2007), "Capitale sociale, imprese sociali, spesa pubblica e sviluppo in Italia" (Social capital, social enterprises, public spending and development in Italy), Impresa sociale, special issue on "Fiducia, beni relazionali e capitale sociale" (Trust, relational goods and social capital", n.2, vol. 76, 192-234.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2007), "Un atlante del capitale sociale italiano", QA, Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi Doria , No. 1/2007, pp. 41-73.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2005), "Resources for the Study of Social Capital", Journal of Economic Education, Vol. 36, No. 2, Spring 2005, 198.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2005), "Uganda: l'allievo modello della Banca Mondiale? Le nuove contraddizioni della cooperazione allo sviluppo", Disuguaglianze, Trimestrale per l'analisi dei processi di sviluppo e sottosviluppo, Vol. 5/05, 122-134.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2004), "Il concetto di capitale sociale nelle scienze sociali. Una rassegna della letteratura economica, sociologica e politologica, Studi e Note di Economia, No. 2/2004, 73-105.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2004), "Che cosa è il capitale sociale", Disuguaglianze, Trimestrale per l'analisi dei processi di sviluppo e sottosviluppo, Vol. 3/04, 41-55.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2003), Review Essay of Ben Fine, "Social Capital versus Social Theory: Political Economy and Social Science at the Turn of the Millenium", London and New York, Routledge, 2001, Economic Notes, vol. 32 issue 3, 403-408.

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Books

• Sabatini, Fabio, (ed), Homo Oeconomicus? Dinamiche imprenditoriali in laboratorio, joint with Giuseppe Garofalo, Bologna, Il Mulino, in press.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2007), Il capitale sociale per la pianificazione e gestione dei servizi pubblici locali, joint with Claudio Cecchi, Roma, Officina Edizioni.

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Book Chapters

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "The Labour Market", in Svendsen, G.T. and G.L.H. Svendsen (eds), Handbook of Social Capital, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, in press.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "Is Social Capital a Policy Tool Against Poverty and Inequality? A Discussion of Development Strategies in Rural India", joint with Claudio Cecchi and Luca Molinas, in Basile, E. and I. Mukhopadhyay (eds), Institutional Perspectives on Rural India, London, New York, Delhi, Anthem Press, in press.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "Guida pratica alla misurazione del capitale sociale", in Garofalo, G. and F. Sabatini (eds), Homo Oeconomicus? Dinamiche imprenditoriali in laboratorio, Bologna, Il Mulino, in press.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "Quale capitale sociale genera fiducia? Analisi empirica su una comunità di imprenditori", in Garofalo, G. and F. Sabatini (eds), Homo Oeconomicus? Dinamiche imprenditoriali in laboratorio, Bologna, Il Mulino, in press.
Download a preliminary version from Ideas (in Italian).

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "Che cosa è il capitale sociale: una rassegna ", in Garofalo, G. and F. Sabatini (eds), Homo Oeconomicus? Dinamiche imprenditoriali in laboratorio, Bologna, Il Mulino, in press.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2007), "The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: a Critical Perspective", in Osborne, M., Sankey, K. and Wilson, B. (eds), Researching Social Capital, Lifelong Learning Regions and the Management of Place: an international perspective, London and New York, Routledge, pp76-94.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2007), "Il decentramento delle politiche sociali in Italia. Il contesto normativo e istituzionale del nuovo sistema di welfare locale", in Cecchi, C. and F. Sabatini, Il capitale sociale per la pianificazione e gestione dei servizi pubblici locali, Roma, Officina Edizioni.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2007), "Il capitale sociale e la risposta collettiva ai bisogni individiduali", in Cecchi, C. and F. Sabatini, Il capitale sociale per la pianificazione e gestione dei servizi pubblici locali, Roma, Officina Edizioni.

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Selected working Papers

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), Quale capitale sociale genera fiducia? Analisi empirica su una comunità di imprenditori, University of Siena, Department of Economics, mimeo.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), Does Social Capital Mitigate Precariousness?, FEEM Working Paper (Nota di Lavoro FEEM) 4.08, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. Click here to download the paper from the FEEM's web site.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), Social Capital and the Labour Market, University of Siena, Department of Economics, mimeo.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2007), Education, Social Capital and Entrepreneurial Selection in Italy, joint with Francesco Ferrante. Paper prepared for presentation at the 2006 International Comparative Analysis of Enterprise (micro) Data (CAED) Conference, hosted at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Chicago, IL, September 18 & 19, 2006. Email me for the draft paper.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2006), The Role of Social Capital in Economic Development. Investigating the Causal Nexus through Structural Equations Models, Paper presented at the Conference Social Capital, Sustainability and Socio-economic Cohesion within the EU MLG structure in development policy, hosted by the London School of Economics, London, June 29 & 30, 2006.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2006), Educational Qualification, Work Status and Entrepreneurship in Italy. An Exploratory Analysis , FEEM Working Paper 87.06, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Milano. Click here to download the paper from the FEEM's web site.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2006), Does Social Capital Improve Labour Productivity in Small and Medium Enterprises?, Working Paper No. 92, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Public Economics. Click here to download the paper from the web site of the University of Rome La Sapienza.

A revised version of this paper has been included also in the FEEM Working Paper series with the title Social Capital and Labour Productivity in Italy, FEEM Working Paper 30.06, Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation, Milan. Click here to download the paper from the FEEM's web site.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2006), Social Capital, Public Spending and the
Quality of Economic Development: the Case of Italy, FEEM Working Paper 14.06, Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation, Milan, January 2006. Click here to download the paper from the FEEM's web site.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2006), The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective, FEEM Working Paper 15.06, January 2006, Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation, Milan. Click here to download the paper from the FEEM's web site.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2005), Social Capital as Social Networks. A New Framework for Measurement, Working Paper No. 83, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Public Economics. Click here to download the paper from the web site of the University of Rome La Sapienza.
Paper presented at the 3rd Annual Meeting of young researchers organized by the Italian Sociological Association, Naples, Italy, 6 October, 2005.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2005), Measuring Social Capital in Italy. An Exploratory Analysis, Third Sector and Civil Economy Working Paper Series, No. 12 (April 2005), University of Bologna, Faculty of Economics. Click here to download the paper from the web site of the University of Bologna.
Paper presented at the Second Workshop on Civil Economy: young economists' contributions, 10-11 June 2005, University of Bologna, Faculty of Economics in Forlì.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2004), "Uganda: l'allievo modello della Banca Mondiale? Le nuove contraddizioni della cooperazione allo sviluppo", Paper presented at the Conference "The Meanings of research: interdisciplinary character and border line themes in Population Studies", Rome, Italy, 1-3 December, 2004.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2004), "Il rapporto tra Economia e Società nella ricerca sul capitale sociale. Un tentativo di impostazione contabile e una classificazione “funzionale” della letteratura", PhD Working Papers Series, No. 17 (October 2004), University of Rome La Sapienza, PhD Programme in Political Economy.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2004), "Il concetto di capitale sociale. Una rassegna della letteratura economica, sociologica e politologica", PhD Working Papers Series, No. 16 (October 2004), University of Rome La Sapienza, PhD Programme in Political Economy.

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PhD Thesis

Sabatini, Fabio (2005), An Inquiry into the Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development, PhD Programme in Economics, University of Rome La Sapienza, June 2006.

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Seminars and conferences

• 2007, November, "Social capital and the quality of economic development", Paper presentation at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Verona.

• 2007, June, Keynote speaker at the conference "The role of nonprofit organizations and social enterprises in the formation of social capital" hosted by the Second Festival of Economics "Human capital, social capital" in Trento, 1st June 2007.

• 2007, June: "Social capital and economic development: the case of Italy ", Paper presentation at the Third Workshop on Civil Economy "Culture, Social Capital and Capabilities" organized by the University of Bologna and the AICCON Research Centre. 8-9 June 2007.

• 2007, March, Keynote speaker at the Conference "Social Networks, Transactional Economy, and Knowledge-Based Economy in Regional Development" hosted by the International Forum "Regional Development Policies as Vehicle of Reshaping Global Political and Economic Order" organized by the State University of Moscow, the MGIMO University of Moscow and the Higher School of Management of Moscow, Moscow, 4 March 2007.

• 2007, March, Chair of the Roundtable "Energy Policy, Regional Development and Transcontinental Interactions of Europe" within the International Forum "Regional Development Policies as Vehicle of Reshaping Global Political and Economic Order" organized by the State University of Moscow, the MGIMO University of Moscow and the Higher School of Management of Moscow, Moscow, 4 March 2007.

• 2006, November, Keynote speaker at the Conference "Reviewing OECD experience in the social enterprise sector" organised by the OECD LEED Centre for Local Development and the World Bank, Trento, 15-18 November 2006.

• 2006, October, Organizer and Chair of the Conference "Social Capital and Crime", hosted by Pol.i.s. Campania and the Campania regional government, Ottaviano (Naples), 18-19 October 2006.

• 2006, June, The Role of Social Capital in Economic Development. Investigating the Causal Nexus through Structural Equations Models, Paper presentation at the Conference Social Capital, Sustainability and Socio-economic Cohesion within the EU MLG structure in development policy, hosted by the London School of Economics, London, June 29 & 30, 2006.

• 2006, April, "Social Capital: Definition and Measurement", Research seminar held at the IRPET (Istituto Regionale per la Programmazione Economica della Toscana), Florence, Italy, 20 April 2006.

• 2006, January, "Nonprofit and social capital", Paper presentation at the Workshop "Nonprofit organizations and the creation of social capital" organized by the University of Padua, 28 January.

• 2005, October, Social Capital as Social Networks. A New Framework for Measurement, Paper presentation at the Third Forum for young researcheres organized by the Italian Sociological Association, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 6 october 2005.

• 2005, 11 June, "Measuring social capital in Italy: an exploratory analysis", Paper presentation at the Second Workshop on Civil Economy: young economists' contributions, 10-11 June 2005, organized by the University of Bologna, Faculty of Economics in Forlì.

• 2004, 2 December, "Uganda, l'allievo modello della Banca Mondiale? Le nuove contraddizioni della cooperazione allo sviluppo", Paper presentation at the Conference The Meanings of research: interdisciplinary character and border line themes in Population Studies, organized by the Department of Demography of the University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, 1-3 December, 2004.

• 2004, 1 June, "Analisi economica, relazioni sociali e capitale sociale", Paper presentation at the at the first CRISS First Annual Young Economists Workshop, organized by the Network on the Economics of the Welfare State at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", Faculty of Economics, 31 May, 1 June.

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Social Capital Website

Fabio Sabatini is the author and the editor of Social Capital Gateway, web site providing resources for the study of social capital and social interactions which has been acknowledged by the Journal of Economic Education as an exemplary material for teaching and learning economics. Social Capital Gateway is linked as a useful resource for social sciences by hundreds of research institutions all over the world, among which the World Bank, Harvard University, Princeton University, and the London School of Economics.

Please click here to see a selection of research institutions which have placed a link to Social Capital Gateway within their web site.

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