In this issue we feature 11 current papers on the theme of social capital, chosen by Fabio Sabatini (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”):

A classic example used in many school books to illustrate how industrialisation changed the way of life in the second half of the 19^th century is the need for fixing time on local, national and international level. It was a precondition for knowing when a train would arrive and depart. But another impact of fixing the time according to the clock was that employees knew when to meet and when to leave their workplace and workers and employers alike could measure salary related to work hours.