This paper reviews the methodology and evidence of recent regression literature attributing the African growth shortfall to lack of social capital. It finds that the literature is not able to account for the actual economic growth experience, only in a significantly reformulated and misleading way. The paper considers how social capital is defined and which proxies are used in the literature, and notes considerable theoretical and empirical inconsistency. In conclusion the paper supports the contention that social capital is best understood as an outcome, and not a cause of growth. At the present state of the literature explaining economic growth the use of social capital as a determinant. has not been empirically useful nor analytically coherent.
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Paper provided by The Ratio Institute in its series Ratio Working Papers with number
108.
Length: 29 pages Date of creation: 16 Nov 2006 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0108
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Find related papers by JEL classification: N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania O47 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology
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