Michael Woolcock
This paper provides a brief introduction to the recent theoretical and empirical literature on social capital as it pertains to economic development issues, with a particular focus on its significance for OECD countries. It reviews the empirical evidence in support of key hypotheses pertaining to economic development, especially the relationship between informal and formal institutions and their collective capacity to manage risk, and explores the implications of a general theory of social capital for economic growth in OECD countries.
The paper addresses three specific questions:
(1) How are social capital, human capital and social capability related to one another?;
(2) How can social capital be measured?; and
(3) How might existing economic growth models give more adequate attention to social capital?