Abstract

VARGAS FORERO, Gonzalo. TOWARD A THEORY OF SOCIAL CAPITAL. Rev.econ.inst. [online]. 2002, vol.4, n.6, pp.71-108. ISSN 0124-5996.

In the last decade, the concept of social capital has been widely accepted by academics, advisors and government officials, who have attributed to it virtuous effects on economic and social development. However, theoretical and applied literature gives many different meanings to the concept of social capital, leading to methodological difficulties. Thus, the concept of social capital is merely the entrance to a theoretical structure under construction, whose components and ‘materials’ come from different approaches. From a mainstream economics approach, the New Institutionalism offers important elements for the construction of this theory.

Keywords : social capital; economic development; New Institutionalism; social organization.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )