The article presents measures of convergence that can be implied from the prices of instruments quoted on the financialmarket. Investors pricing off-balance instruments on the derivativesmarket reveal their sentiment and level of confidence related to the stability and development of the local market. Author proposes the following measures of convergence observed both on interest rate and currency market: convergence (forward) spread, basis swap, asset swap, credit default swap, zero-delta straddle, risk reversal, butterfly and currency spread. The financial crises of 2008–10 brought deconvergence processes visible not only on emerging markets but also in some developed eurozone countries. The presented derivative instruments offer valuable information for all market analysts showing the level of convergence perceived by active market participants.

In this paper we attempt to quantify the impact of social capital on income. We follow Putnam’s [1995] approach and we construct a synthetic index for social capital using a multivariate probit model. Social capital is considered as one of the crucial individual endowments, next to physical and human capital. In a second step, we estimate the impact of the synthetically constructed social capital index on an individual’s income using a Mincer-type earnings equation. The results show that social capital explains up to 20% of income variation both at the individual and household level. However, human capital and physical capital remain the critical determinants of individual income.

The paper, mostly empirical in nature, investigates issues on cross-national new information and communication technologies (ICTs) adoption patterns and growth directions. In the period of 2000–2010, a great number of countries underwent substantial changes on the field of ICTs implementation. Many of them made a great “jump” starting with almost “zero level” of ICTs adoption in the year 2000 and during the ten- year period were implementing ICTs at an astonishingly high pace. Despite the obvious positive impact that ICTs have on overall society and economy condition, rapid changes can also generate higher inequalities on the field. The paper focuses mainly on capturing these changes. It also aims to confirm or reject the hypothesis on growing inter-country inequalities in ICTs adoption. The target of the paper is twofold. Firstly, we explain the magnitude of past and present differences in digitalization level among countries; secondly, we concentrate digital technology convergence. We apply three approaches to convergence— _-convergence, _-convergence and quantile-convergence (q-convergence), to check if relative division between countries was growing or diminishing in the time span of 2000 to 2010. Additionally, we check if countries of a given sample tend to form convergence clubs in the relevant years. The analysis is run for the sample consisted of 145 economies and the time coverage is 2000–2010. All data applied in the research is drawn from the International Telecommunication Union statistical databases [see www.itu.int].

The purpose of this paper is to analyze city dwellers’ opinions on their hometowns’ promotional activities, taking into account the size of these urban communities. The PAPI method (Paper and Pencil Interview) as well as an online questionnaire were used to collect data. Standardized questionnaire was used as a research tool. Polish city dwellers were surveyed between May 7th and August 18, 2011. In addition, the author has compiled effectiveness evaluations of the promotion tools used by the cities as collected by the inhabitants in the framework of a TNS OBOP survey conducted in late October and early November 2010 on a sample of local community officials responsible for marketing. An analogous comparison has been used to assess media effectiveness in the cities’ promotion campaigns. This kind of compilation has led to identifying differences in the reception of public image campaigns by those who run them and those who are the target of the campaigns. That, in turn, can become useful data for local communities’ bureaus of promotion to analyze.