Social Capital as Social Networks. A New Framework for Measurement

Abstract

The contribution of this paper to the social capital literature is twofold. Drawing on the Italian data, it firstly provides a new framework for measurement, allowing to build indicators for five different components of the multidimensional concept of social capital. Secondly, it provides a single, synthetic, measure capturing that particular configuration of social capital which the literature generally associates with positive economic outcomes. This measure is here referred to as "developmental social capital".

Keywords: Social capital, Social networks, Economic development, Principal component analysis, Multiple factor analysis

JEL Classification: A12, O10, O18, R11, Z13