Beliefs, Values and Attitudes of Portuguese Population and their Relationship with Human and Social Capital

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the economic values, beliefs and attitudes of the Portuguese population and how they are associated with behaviors linked to economic performance. It is based on a research oriented to three main goals: 1 - the description and explanation of the formation of economic values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, based on a questionnaire submitted to a national sample, stratified by regional areas; 2 - the identification of the existent linkages between these micro-sociological variables and regional and national economic performance (e.g. GDP, unemployment rates, inflation, investment, debt and wages); 3 - the exploration of the role of human and social capital as moderators between micro-sociological variables and a support for different types of economic values. In this paper we explore the third goal, offering a tentative typology of economic values’ support.