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Social Capital: Bridging the Theory and Empirical Divide

Author

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  • Brenda Gannon

    (Academic Unit of Health Economics, University of Leeds)

  • Jennifer Roberts

    (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield)

Abstract

We explore the measurement of social capital in an attempt to bring the empirical work closer to the theoretical literature. Specifically we use the Survey of Health Aging and Retirement in Europe for 2004 and 2006 to construct a composite index of social capital, using principal component analysis. We explore the extent to which the underlying latent factors coincide with the theoretical components of social capital. Our results suggest that the proxy variables load on to four theoretical components. Both men and women have higher social capital in Nordic welfare regimes compared to those in Central or Southern Europe.

Suggested Citation

  • Brenda Gannon & Jennifer Roberts, 2012. "Social Capital: Bridging the Theory and Empirical Divide," Working Papers 2012028, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:shf:wpaper:2012028
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephan Humpert, 2013. "Gender Differences in Life Satisfaction and Social Participation," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 6(3), pages 123-142, December.
    2. Yesim Kustepeli & Yaprak Gulcan & Muırat Yercan & Batuhan Yıldırım, 2023. "The role of agricultural development cooperatives in establishing social capital," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 70(3), pages 681-704, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social capital index; welfare regimes; finite mixture model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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