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The role of social capital in enhancing factor productivity: Does its erosion depress per capita GDP?

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  • Bartolini, Stefano
  • Bonatti, Luigi

Abstract

We aim at reconciling Putnam's claim that social capital has declined in the U.S. in the last decades with the satisfactory growth performance of the U.S. economy over the same period. This puzzle originates from the fact that - according to most literature - social capital enhances factor productivity (mainly by reducing defiant and opportunistic behavior). We model the hypotheses that the expansion of market activities weakens social capital formation, and that society reacts to the decline in social capital by spending more to protect property and enforce contracts. We show that this process may lead to a higher GDP level.

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  • Bartolini, Stefano & Bonatti, Luigi, 2008. "The role of social capital in enhancing factor productivity: Does its erosion depress per capita GDP?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1539-1553, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:4:p:1539-1553
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    Cited by:

    1. Joël Hellier & Stéphane Lambrecht, 2013. "Inequality, Growth and Welfare: The Main Links," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joël Hellier & Nathalie Chusseau (ed.), Growing Income Inequalities, chapter 9, pages 274-311, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Sabatini, Fabio, 2009. "Social capital as social networks: A new framework for measurement and an empirical analysis of its determinants and consequences," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 429-442, June.
    3. Stefan D. Josten, 2013. "Middle-Class Consensus, Social Capital And The Fundamental Causes Of Economic Growth And Development," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-26, March.
    4. Karlsson, Charlie & Rouchy, Philippe, 2015. "Regional Economic Development, Social Capital and Governance: A Buchanian Approach," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 390, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    5. Fabio Sabatini, 2008. "Social Capital and the Quality of Economic Development," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 466-499, August.

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