They conclude that: ‘our findings support the two-stage hypothesis we outlined at the beginning: more social cohesion leads to better institutions, and that better institutions in turn lead to higher growth’ (Easterly et al., In such recommendations they join with proponents of ‘fostering social cohesion’ via social inclusion, such as the Council of Europe. It was a major locale (although by no means the only one) that led to what has been termed the ‘new conventional wisdom’. This position is based on a stance also visible in policy perspectives of the EU at least since 2000 — that economic performance depends on good social policy, including policies promoting territorial, social and economic cohesion (Beauvais and Jenson, 2002: 21, European Commission, 2004, Turok, 2006: 353).