The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective

36 Pages Posted: 3 Feb 2006

See all articles by Fabio Sabatini

Fabio Sabatini

Euricse; Sapienza University of Rome - Department of Economics and Law

Date Written: January 2006

Abstract

This paper provides an introduction to the concept of social capital, and carries out a critical review of the empirical literature on social capital and economic development. The survey points out six main weaknesses affecting the empirics of social capital. Identified weaknesses are then used to analyze, in a critical perspective, some prominent empirical studies and new interesting researches published in the last two years. The need emerges to acknowledge, also within the empirical research, the multidimensional, context-dependent and dynamic nature of social capital. The survey also underlines that, although it has gained a certain popularity in the empirical research, the use of "indirect" indicators may be misleading. Such measures do not represent social capital's key components identified by the theoretical literature, and their use causes a considerable confusion about what social capital is, as distinct from its outcomes, and what the relationship between social capital and its outcomes may be. Research reliant upon an outcome of social capital as an indicator of it will necessarily find social capital to be related to that outcome. This paper suggests to focus the empirical research firstly on the "structural" aspects of the concept, therefore excluding by the measurement toolbox all indicators referring to social capital's supposed outcomes.

Keywords: Social capital, Social networks, Trust, Economic development, Relation of economics to other disciplines, Relation of economics to social values

JEL Classification: A120, A130, A310, O100, Z130

Suggested Citation

Sabatini, Fabio and Sabatini, Fabio, The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective (January 2006). FEEM Working Paper No. 15.2006, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=879712 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.879712

Fabio Sabatini (Contact Author)

Sapienza University of Rome - Department of Economics and Law ( email )

Piazzale Aldo Moro 5
Roma, Rome 00185
Italy

Euricse ( email )

Via S. Giovanni 36
38122 Trento (TN)
Italy

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