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 most literature on social capital emphasizes its role in enhancing factor productivity (mainly by reducing transaction costs). We model the hypotheses that the expansion of market activities (increased “marketization”) weakens social capital formation, and that firms utilize more market services in response to the declining social capital. Within this framework, perpetual growth can be consistent with the progressive erosion of social capital.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: O13 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products O41 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models Q20 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - General Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology
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[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1996.
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[Downloadable!] (restricted)