IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/aiccon/2005_017.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Social Capital, R&D and Industrial Districts

Author

Listed:
  • Cainelli, Giulio

    (Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit)

  • Mancinelli, Susanna

    (Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit)

  • Mazzanti, Massimiliano

    (Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit)

Abstract

The main idea behind this paper is that social capital is not, as generally suggested by the socio-economic literature, an individual attitude towards something which does not imply privately appropriable economic benefits. Actually, SC might and should be interpreted as a public component of an investment which implies private and public benefits entangled with each other. In order to put forward this idea, a dynamic theoretical model that assumes social capital as the public component of the impure public good R&D is developed. It shows that the civic culture of the district area in which the firm works is not sufficient as an incentive to increase its investment in social capital, because this investment strictly depends on the economic convenience of investing in the impure public good. Social capital /networking dynamics might positively and complementary evolve only if the opportunity cost of investing in innovation is sufficiently low. We consequently focus our attention on a specialized industrial district located in the Emilia Romagna regionthe biomedical district of Mirandola (Modena) characterised by a strong pattern of innovative activity. Using a proxy for innovative activity as dependant variable, we observe that R&D and networking/social capital arise as complementary driving forces for innovation outputs. When empirical evidence confirms that this complementarity plays key role, and consequently strong links exist between market and non-market dynamics relating to firms, the role for policy actions targeted to social capital is larger. The policy effort should be targeted toward both market and non-market characteristics taken together, rather than solely to the production of (local) public goods (social capital) or innovation inputs as independent elements of firm processes. The input of SC alone is not sufficient to ensure innovation and growth: economic incentives matter. On the other hand, whenever SC dynamics are crucial for R&D private investments, the effect of economic incentives depends on the presence and degree of their complementarity.

Suggested Citation

  • Cainelli, Giulio & Mancinelli, Susanna & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2005. "Social Capital, R&D and Industrial Districts," AICCON Working Papers 17-2005, Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:aiccon:2005_017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aiccon.it/file/convdoc/n.17.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joel Sobel, 2002. "Can We Trust Social Capital?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 139-154, March.
    2. Lindon Robison & A. Allan Schmid & Marcelo Siles, 2002. "Is Social Capital Really Capital?," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(1), pages 1-21.
    3. Becker, Wolfgang & Dietz, Jurgen, 2004. "R&D cooperation and innovation activities of firms--evidence for the German manufacturing industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 209-223, March.
    4. Edward L. Glaeser & David Laibson & Bruce Sacerdote, 2002. "An Economic Approach to Social Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 437-458, November.
    5. N/A, 2001. "The World Economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 175(1), pages 29-58, January.
    6. Christine Oughton & Geoff Whittam, 1997. "Competition and Cooperation in the Small Firm Sector," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 44(1), pages 1-30, February.
    7. 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.
    8. Paldam, Martin & Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard, 2000. "An essay on social capital: looking for the fire behind the smoke," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 339-366, June.
    9. Cornes, Richard & Sandler, Todd, 1984. "Easy Riders, Joint Production, and Public Goods," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 94(375), pages 580-598, September.
    10. Nyberg, Sten, 1997. "The honest society: Stability and policy considerations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 83-99, April.
    11. Fritsch, Michael & Franke, Grit, 2004. "Innovation, regional knowledge spillovers and R&D cooperation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 245-255, March.
    12. Negassi, S., 2004. "R&D co-operation and innovation a microeconometric study on French firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 365-384, April.
    13. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1995. "Complementarities and fit strategy, structure, and organizational change in manufacturing," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 179-208, April.
    14. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2002. "R&D Cooperation and Spillovers: Some Empirical Evidence from Belgium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1169-1184, September.
    15. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Issues in Assessing the Contribution of Research and Development to Productivity Growth," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 17-45, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Steven N. Durlauf, 2002. "On the Empirics of Social Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 459-479, November.
    17. N/A, 2001. "The World Economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 176(1), pages 35-60, April.
    18. Yannis Caloghirou & Stavros Ioannides & Nicholas S. Vonortas, 2003. "Research Joint Ventures," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(4), pages 541-570, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giorgio Calcagnini & Germana Giombini & Francesco Perugini, 2016. "Bank Foundations, Social Capital, and the Growth of Italian Provinces," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 131, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    2. Riccardo Crescenzi & Luisa Gagliardi & Marco Percoco, 2013. "The ‘Bright’ Side of Social Capital: How ‘Bridging’ Makes Italian Provinces More Innovative," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Riccardo Crescenzi & Marco Percoco (ed.), Geography, Institutions and Regional Economic Performance, edition 127, pages 143-164, Springer.
    3. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Roberto Zoboli, 2006. "Examining the Factors Influencing Environmental Innovations," Working Papers 2006.20, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Roberto Zoboli, 2007. "Environmental Efficiency, Emission Trends and Labour Productivity: Trade-Off or Joint Dynamics? Empirical Evidence Using NAMEA Panel Data," Working Papers 2007.40, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    5. Andrea Ascani & Luisa Gagliardi, 2015. "Inward FDI and local innovative performance. An empirical investigation on Italian provinces," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 35(1), pages 29-47, February.
    6. Waleed Omri & Audrey Becuwe, 2014. "Managerial characteristics and entrepreneurial internationalization: A study of Tunisian SMEs," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 8-42, March.
    7. 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.
    8. Gurrieri, Antonia Rosa, 2008. "Knowledge network dissemination in a family-firm sector," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2380-2389, December.

    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. Cainelli, Giulio & Mancinelli, Susanna & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2007. "Social capital and innovation dynamics in district-based local systems," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 932-948, December.
    2. Bauernschuster, Stefan & Falck, Oliver & Heblich, Stephan, 2010. "Social capital access and entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 821-833, December.
    3. Manuela Gussoni, 2009. "The determinants of inter-firms R&D cooperation and partner selection. A literature overview," Discussion Papers 2009/86, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Mazzanti, Massimiliano & Mancinelli, Susanna, 2007. "SME Performance, Innovation and Networking Evidence on Complementarities for a Local Economic System," Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital Working Papers 9554, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    5. 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).
    6. 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.
    7. Semih Akçomak & Hanna Müller-Zick, 2013. "Trust and Innovation in Europe: Causal, spatial and non-linear forces," STPS Working Papers 1304, STPS - Science and Technology Policy Studies Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Dec 2013.
    8. Beugelsdijk, S. & Smulders, J.A., 2009. "Bonding and Bridging Social Capital and Economic Growth," Discussion Paper 2009-27, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    9. Antoci, Angelo & Sacco, Pier Luigi & Vanin, Paolo, 2007. "Social capital accumulation and the evolution of social participation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 128-143, February.
    10. Faria, Pedro & Schmidt, Tobias, 2007. "International cooperation on innovation: empirical evidence for German and Portuguese firms," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2007,30, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    11. Dufhues, Thomas & Buchenrieder, Gertrud & Fischer, Isabel, 2006. "Social capital and rural development: literature review and current state of the art [Sozialkapital und ländliche Entwicklung: Literaturüberblick und gegenwärtiger Stand der Forschung]," IAMO Discussion Papers 96, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    12. Barbara Dettori & Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2012. "Total Factor Productivity, Intangible Assets and Spatial Dependence in the European Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(10), pages 1401-1416, November.
    13. Scandura, Alessandra, 2016. "University–industry collaboration and firms’ R&D effort," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1907-1922.
    14. repec:zbw:iamodp:92017 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Davide Antonioli & Alberto Marzucchi & Maria Savona, 2017. "Pain shared, pain halved? Cooperation as a coping strategy for innovation barriers," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 841-864, August.
    16. Akcomak, Semih, 2009. "Bridges in social capital: A review of the definitions and the social capital of social capital researchers," MERIT Working Papers 2009-002, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    17. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2013. "Regional Development and Creativity," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 36(3), pages 354-391, July.
    18. Dirk Bezemer & Uwe Dulleck & Paul Frijters, 2003. "Contacts, Social Capital and Market Institutions - A Theory of Development," Vienna Economics Papers 0311, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    19. Susanna Mancinelli & Massimiliano Mazzanti, 2009. "Innovation, networking and complementarity: evidence on SME performances for a local economic system in North-Eastern Italy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(3), pages 567-597, September.
    20. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Roberto Zoboli, 2006. "Examining the Factors Influencing Environmental Innovations," Working Papers 2006.20, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    21. Carboni, Oliviero A., 2013. "Heterogeneity in R&D collaboration: An empirical investigation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 48-59.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social capital; R&D; technological innovation; industrial districts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • H49 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Other
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    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:ris:aiccon:2005_017. 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: Paolo Venturi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aiccoea.html .

    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.