O capital social e o desempenho econômico dos estados brasileiros

This study examines whether social capital is an element that has a significant relationship with Brazilian states’ economic performance in the period of 1996 to 2008. The issue is addressed by the ideas of Bourdieu (1980, 1986), Coleman (1988, 1990) and Putnam et al. (1993), considering that social groups are a good representation of social capital. Olson (1982) and Putnam et al. (1993) have different perspectives on the subject: for Olson (1982) interactions may harm economic performance when used to benefit specific groups, while Putnam et al. (1993) give emphasis to the cooperation and trust that arises between and within groups. For so, the databases of the Central Register of Enterprises (source IBGE) and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) are used, which have data for associative and cooperative activities, and the empirical methodology is from Roth (2007). We conclude that at the state level in Brazil social capital behaves in order to combine the groups identified by Olson (1982) and Putnam et al. (1993) positively affecting the rate of economic growth.