What is social capital
Essential readings
Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. The American Journal of Sociology 94, S95-S120
In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described...
Granovetter, M. (1973). The Strength Of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology 78, 1360-80.
Analysis of social networks is suggested as a tool for linking micro and macro levels of...
Important readings
Fine, B. (2001). Social Capital Versus Social Theory. London and New York: Routledge
The idea of Social Capital is an attempt to incorporate social considerations into mainstream...
Putnam, R. (1993). Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy
Why do some democratic governments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention...
Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital. Journal of Democracy 6 (1), 65-78.
Copyright © 1995 The National Endowment for Democracy and The Johns Hopkins University Press...
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster
In a groundbreaking book based on vast data, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly...
Svendsen, G., Svendsen, G. L. H. (Eds) (2008). Handbook Of Social Capital The Troika of Sociology, Political Science and Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar
‘Given the current global economic crisis that has its root causes in the psychology of the...
Dasgupta, P. (2005). Economics of Social Capital. The Economic Record 81 (255), S2-S21
The literature on the idea of ‘social capital’ is now enormous. Offering an alternative...
Reading list archive
Ahn, T.-H., Ostrom, E. (Eds) (2003). Foundations of Social Capital. Edward Elgar
Few social scientific concepts have gathered so much attention and so many followers in such a...
Ashraf, N., Camerer, C. F., Loewenstein, G. (2005). Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(3): 131–145.
Adam Smith's psychological perspective in The Theory of Moral Sentiments is remarkably similar...
Banfield, E. C. (1958). he Moral Basis of a Backward Society. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press
The Moral Basis of a Backward Society is a book by Edward C. Banfield, a political scientist who...
Becker, G. S. (1974). A Theory of Social Interactions, Journal of Political Economy 82 (6), 1063-1093
Please follow this link to download the paper in Pdf as a NBER working paper on Professor Becker...
Becker, G. S. (1996). Accounting for Tastes. Cambrdige: Harvard University Press
Economists generally accept as a given the old adage that there's no accounting for tastes....
Bjørnskov, C. (2006). The multiple facets of social capital. European Journal of Political Economy 22 (1), 22-40.
This paper examines whether Putnam's claim that social capital is a unitary concept has support...
Bruni, L., Sugden, R. (2000). Moral canals: trust and social capital in the work of Hume, Smith and Genovesi. Economics and Philosophy 16(01), 21-45
It is a truism that a market economy cannot function without trust. We must be able to rely on...
De Blasio, G., Sestito, P. (Eds). Il capitale sociale. Roma, Donzelli
"Cos’è esattamente il capitale sociale? Come misurarlo, senza accontentarsi dell...
Farr, J. (2004). Social Capital. A Conceptual History
Abstract Taking its departure from current debates over social capital, this article presents...
Garofalo, G., Sabatini, F. (2008). Homo Oeconomicus? Dinamiche imprenditoriali in laboratorio. Bologna: Il Mulino
In che modo gli imprenditori compiono le loro scelte? La teoria economica tradizionale presuppone...
Glaeser, E., Laibson, D., Sacerdote, B. (2002). An Economic Approach to Social Capital. Economic Journal 112 (483), F437–F458
To identify the determinants of social capital formation, it is necessary to understand the...
Hanifan, L. J. (1916). The Rural School Community Centre. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 67, 130-38.
This is the seminal paper where Lyda Hanifan first provided a definition of the concept of social...
Hooghe, M., Stolle, D. (Eds) (2004). Generating Social Capital: Civil Society and Institutions in Comparative Perspective. New York: Palgrave
Social capital - networks of civic engagements, norms of reciprocity, and attitudes of trust - is...
