IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/annpce/v93y2022i4p1041-1062.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigating the link between social cooperation sector and economic well‐being of Italian provinces through the lens of social capital

Author

Listed:
  • Giuseppe Terzo

Abstract

This paper investigates, through the lens of social capital, the contribution of social cooperation to the economic well‐being of Italian provinces. The empirical investigation is in two phases. First, I carry out a cross‐sectional analysis on data from 2015 to 2019 to verify whether social‐cooperation diffusion, expressed by social‐cooperative‐employee density, is positively related to a composite index of social capital. This analysis confirms the hypothesis that the diffusion of social cooperation effectively approximates the territorial social‐capital endowment. Second, I structure a panel data analysis for the period 2012 to 2017 to investigate the link between social cooperation as a source of social capital and the economic well‐being of Italian provinces. The results of this analysis corroborate the hypothesis—consistent with copious literature showing the positive role of social capital in the economic development processes—that social cooperation positively affects material living conditions through the generation of social value.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppe Terzo, 2022. "Investigating the link between social cooperation sector and economic well‐being of Italian provinces through the lens of social capital," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(4), pages 1041-1062, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:annpce:v:93:y:2022:i:4:p:1041-1062
    DOI: 10.1111/apce.12349
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/apce.12349
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/apce.12349?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sato, Yasuhiro & Zenou, Yves, 2015. "How urbanization affect employment and social interactions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 131-155.
    2. Federica VIGANO & Andrea SALUSTRI, 2015. "Matching profit and Non-profit Needs: How NPOs and Cooperative Contribute to Growth in Time of Crisis. A Quantitative Approach," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(1), pages 157-178, March.
    3. Ronelle BURGER & Indraneel DASGUPTA & Trudy OWENS, 2015. "Why Pay NGOs to Involve the Community?," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(1), pages 7-31, March.
    4. John F. Helliwell & Robert D. Putnam, 1995. "Economic Growth and Social Capital in Italy," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 295-307, Summer.
    5. Ignacio BRETOS & Carmen MARCUELLO, 2017. "Revisiting Globalization Challenges And Opportunities In The Development Of Cooperatives," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(1), pages 47-73, March.
    6. Leonardo Becchetti & Alessandra Pelloni & Fiammetta Rossetti, 2008. "Relational Goods, Sociability, and Happiness," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 343-363, August.
    7. Giuseppe Albanese & Guido de Blasio, 2016. "Civic Capital and Development: Italy, 1951-2001," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 47-64.
    8. Paolo Buonanno & Daniel Montolio & Paolo Vanin, 2009. "Does Social Capital Reduce Crime?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(1), pages 145-170, February.
    9. Giacomo Degli Antoni & Fabio Sabatini, 2017. "Social cooperatives, social welfare associations and social networks," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 75(2), pages 212-230, April.
    10. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 526-556, June.
    11. La Porta, Rafael, et al, 1997. "Trust in Large Organizations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 333-338, May.
    12. Kunze, Lars & Suppa, Nicolai, 2017. "Bowling alone or bowling at all? The effect of unemployment on social participation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 213-235.
    13. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-1288.
    14. Timothy Besley & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2017. "Profit with Purpose? A Theory of Social Enterprise," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 19-58, August.
    15. 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.
    16. Fabio Sabatini, 2008. "Social Capital and the Quality of Economic Development," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 466-499, August.
    17. Giacomo Degli Antoni, 2016. "Capitale sociale e cooperative sociali: considerazioni da una indagine sul campo," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(105), pages 151-163.
    18. Nicola Gennaioli & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Human Capital and Regional Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 105-164.
    19. Carlo BORZAGA, 1996. "Social Cooperatives And Work Integration In Italy," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 209-234, June.
    20. Cecilia NAVARRA & Elena VALLINO, 2015. "Who Had the Idea to Build Up a Village Organization? Some Evidence from Senegal and Burkina Faso," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(1), pages 33-72, March.
    21. Kean Birch & Geoff Whittam, 2008. "The Third Sector and the Regional Development of Social Capital," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 437-450, April.
    22. Derek C. Jones & Panu Kalmi, 2009. "Trust, Inequality And The Size Of The Co‐Operative Sector: Cross‐Country Evidence," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(2), pages 165-195, June.
    23. Hans WESTLUND & Malin GAWELL, 2012. "Building Social Capital For Social Entrepreneurship," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 101-116, March.
    24. Fabio Sabatini & Francesca Modena & Ermanno Tortia, 2014. "Do cooperative enterprises create social trust?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 621-641, March.
    25. Riccardo Crescenzi & Luisa Gagliardi & Marco Percoco, 2013. "Social Capital and the Innovative Performance of Italian Provinces," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 908-929, April.
    26. Giacomo Degli Antoni, 2009. "Voluntary Associations and Trustworthiness: An Empirical Examination at Italian Regional Level," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Marco Musella & Sergio Destefanis (ed.), Paid and Unpaid Labour in the Social Economy. An International Perspective, edition 1, chapter 11, pages 183-196, AIEL - Associazione Italiana Economisti del Lavoro.
    27. Carlo Klein, 2013. "Social Capital or Social Cohesion: What Matters For Subjective Well-Being?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 891-911, February.
    28. Giuseppe Terzo, 2021. "Social capital, social economy and economic resilience of Italian provinces," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(5), pages 1113-1135, October.
    29. Anastasios Kitsos & André Carrascal-Incera & Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2019. "The Role of Embeddedness on Regional Economic Resilience: Evidence from the UK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-19, July.
    30. Katherine Scrivens & Conal Smith, 2013. "Four Interpretations of Social Capital: An Agenda for Measurement," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2013/6, OECD Publishing.
    31. Harvey S. James Jr. & Michael E. Sykuta, 2006. "Farmer trust in producer- and investor-owned firms: Evidence from Missouri corn and soybean producers," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 135-153.
    32. Tommaso Nannicini & Andrea Stella & Guido Tabellini & Ugo Troiano, 2013. "Social Capital and Political Accountability," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 222-250, May.
    33. Antonio PICCIOTTI & Andrea BERNARDONI & Massimo COSSIGNANI & Luca FERRUCCI, 2014. "Social Cooperatives In Italy: Economic Antecedents And Regional Distribution," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(2), pages 213-231, June.
    34. D. Joseph Stiglitz, 2009. "Moving Beyond Market Fundamentalism To A More Balanced Economy," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(3), pages 345-360, September.
    35. Wilson Majee & Ann Hoyt, 2010. "Are worker-owned cooperatives the brewing pots for social capital?," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 417-430, October.
    36. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Henri L.F. de Groot & Anton B.T.M. van Schaik, 2004. "Trust and economic growth: a robustness analysis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 118-134, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giuseppe Terzo, 2021. "Social capital, social economy and economic resilience of Italian provinces," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(5), pages 1113-1135, October.
    2. Giacomo, Degli Antoni & Fabio, Sabatini, 2013. "Disentangling the relationship between nonprofit and social capital: the role of social cooperatives and social welfare associations in the development of networks of strong and weak ties," MPRA Paper 44860, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Calcagnini, Giorgio & Perugini, Francesco, 2019. "Social capital and well-being in the Italian provinces," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Argentiero, Amedeo & Cerqueti, Roy & Sabatini, Fabio, 2021. "Does social capital explain the Solow residual? A DSGE approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 35-53.
    5. Giuseppe Terzo, 2022. "The economic impact of social entrepreneurship: an exploratory analysis of the linkage between social cooperation and local growth in Italy," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 76(3), pages 17-28, July-Sept.
    6. Roberto Antonietti & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Social capital, resilience, and regional diversification in Italy [Social capital, innovation and growth: evidence from Europe]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(3), pages 762-777.
    7. Massimo Finocchiaro Castro & Calogero Guccio, 2020. "Birds of a feather flock together: trust in government, political selection and electoral punishment," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 263-287, September.
    8. Amore, Mario Daniele & Epure, Mircea, 2021. "Riding out of a financial crisis: The joint effect of trust and corporate ownership," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 92-109.
    9. Antoci Angelo & Sabatini Fabio & Sodini Mauro, 2009. "Will growth and technology destroy social interaction? The inverted U-shape hypothesis," wp.comunite 0057, Department of Communication, University of Teramo.
    10. Sabatini, Fabio, 2006. "The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective," Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital Working Papers 12097, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    11. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09iguam2l20 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Fabio Sabatini & Francesca Modena & Ermanno Tortia, 2014. "Do cooperative enterprises create social trust?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 621-641, March.
    13. Ivana Catturani & Panu Kalmi & Maria Lucia Stefani, 2016. "Social Capital and Credit Cooperative Banks," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 45(2), pages 205-234, July.
    14. Dearmon, Jacob & Grier, Kevin, 2009. "Trust and development," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 210-220, August.
    15. In Do Hwang, 2017. "Which Type of Trust Matters?:Interpersonal vs. Institutional vs. Political Trust," Working Papers 2017-15, Economic Research Institute, Bank of Korea.
    16. Patricea Elena BERTEA & Ana MIHEI, 2014. "Social Trust – Differences And Similarities Between Eastern European Countries," EURINT, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 1, pages 29-37.
    17. Algan, Yann & Cahuc, Pierre, 2014. "Trust, Growth, and Well-Being: New Evidence and Policy Implications," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 2, pages 49-120, Elsevier.
    18. Fabio, Sabatini, 2005. "The empirics of social capital and economic development: a critical perspective," MPRA Paper 2366, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Mar 2007.
    19. Bracco, E. & De Paola, M. & Green, C.P., 2015. "Long lasting differences in civic capital: Evidence from a unique immigration event in Italy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 160-173.
    20. Ruben Durante & Giovanna Labartino & Roberto Perotti, 2011. "Academic Dynasties: Decentralization and familism ind the Italian academia," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03609936, HAL.
    21. Derek C. Jones & Panu Kalmi, 2009. "Trust, Inequality And The Size Of The Co‐Operative Sector: Cross‐Country Evidence," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(2), pages 165-195, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:annpce:v:93:y:2022:i:4:p:1041-1062. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1370-4788 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.