SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Antoci, Angelo; Sabatini, Fabio; Sodini, Mauro.

This paper addresses two hot topics of the contemporary debate, social capital and economic growth. Our theoretical analysis sheds light on decisive but so far neglected issues: how does social capital accumulate over time? Which is the relationship between social capital, technical progress and economic growth in the long run? The analysis shows that the economy may be attracted by alternative steady states, depending on the initial social capital endowments and cultural exogenous parameters representing the relevance of social interaction and trust in well-being and production. When material consumption and relational goods are substitutable, the choice to devote more and more time to private activities may lead the economy to a “social poverty trap”,...

Educational Qualification, Work Status and Entrepreneurship in Italy an Exploratory Analysis

Palavras-chave: Economic Growth; Technical Progress; Social Interactions; Social Capital; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; A13; D03; O43; Z13.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/50401

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/19/06.

Does Social Capital Mitigate Precariousness?

Palavras-chave: Labor and Human Capital.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/12107

There is a surprising gap in the economic literature on social capital. First, we lack studies addressing the effects of social capital on those facets of development that can contribute in making growth more sustainable in the long run, like, for example, human development and social cohesion. Second, it is still unclear what type of networks may exert a positive effect on the different dimensions of development. In particular, the literature has not yet provided a rigorous assessment of the role of strong family ties, that are generally referred to as a form of bonding social capital causing backwardness. This paper carries out an empirical investigation into the relationship between the three types of social capital so far identified by the literature...

The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective

Palavras-chave: Social capital; Human development; Labour market; Precariousness; Italy; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Labor and Human Capital; Risk and Uncertainty; J24; O15; Z13.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/6358

This paper provides an introduction to the concept of social capital, and carries out a critical review of the empirical literature on social capital and economic development. The survey points out six main weaknesses affecting the empirics of social capital. Identified weaknesses are then used to analyze, in a critical perspective, some prominent empirical studies and new interesting researches published in the last two years. The need emerges to acknowledge, also within the empirical research, the multidimensional, context-dependent and dynamic nature of social capital. The survey also underlines that, although it has gained a certain popularity in the empirical research, the use of indirect indicators may be misleading. Such measures do not represent...

Does Social Capital Create Trust? Evidence from a Community of Entrepreneurs

Palavras-chave: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Labor and Human Capital.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/12097

Which kind of social capital fosters the diffusion of development-oriented trust? This paper carries out an empirical investigation into the causal relationships connecting four types of social capital (i.e. bonding, bridging, linking, and corporate), and different forms of trust (knowledge-based trust, social trust, trust towards public services and political institutions), in a community of entrepreneurs located in the Italian industrial district of the Tuscia. Our results suggest that the main factors fostering the diffusion of social trust among entrepreneurs are the perception that the local community is a safe place, and the establishment of corporate ties through professional associations. Trust in people is positively and significantly correlated...

Social Capital and Labour Productivity in Italy

Palavras-chave: Trust; Social capital; Safety; Professional associations; Entrepreneurship; Corporate ties; Group and Interpersonal Processes; Social Perception and Cognition; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; J24; O15; Z13.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/52340

This paper carries out an empirical assessment of the relationship between social capital and labour productivity in small and medium enterprises in Italy. By means of structural equations models, the analysis investigates the effect of different aspects of the multifaceted concept of social capital. The bonding social capital of strong family ties and the bridging social capital shaped by informal ties connecting friends and acquaintances are proved to exert a negative effect on labour productivity, the economic performance, and human development. On the contrary, the linking social capital of voluntary organizations positively influences such outcomes.

The Solaria Syndrome: Social Capital in a Growing Hyper-technological Economy

Palavras-chave: Labor and Human Capital.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/12090

Antoci, Angelo; Sabatini, Fabio; Sodini, Mauro.

We develop a dynamic model to analyze the sources and the evolution of social participation and social capital in a growing economy characterized by exogenous technical progress. Starting from the assumption that the well-being of agents basically depends on material and relational goods, we show that the best-case scenarios hold when technology and social capital both support just one of the two productions at the expenses of the other. However, trajectories are possible where technology and social interaction balance one another in fostering the growth of both the social and the private sector of the economy. Along such tracks, technology may play a crucial role in supporting a “socially sustainable” economic growth.

Job Instability and Family Planning: Insights from the Italian Puzzle

Palavras-chave: Technology; Economic Growth; Relational Goods; Social Participation; Social Capital; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O33; J22; O41; Z13.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/93415

This paper carries out an investigation into the socio-economic determinants of couples’ childbearing decisions in Italy. Since having children is in most cases a “couple matter”, the analysis accounts for the characteristics of both the possible parents. Our results do not support established theoretical predictions according to which the increase in the opportunity cost of motherhood connected to higher female labour participation is responsible for the fall in fertility. On the contrary, the instability of the women’s work status (i.e. their being occasional, precarious, and low-paid workers) reveals to be a significant dissuasive deterrent discouraging the decision to have children. Couples with unemployed women are less likely to plan childbearing as...

Social Capital, Public Spending and the Quality of Economic Development: The Case of Italy

Palavras-chave: Fertility; Family Planning; Parenthood; Childbearing; Participation; Job Instability; Labour Precariousness; Social Capital; Italy; Labor and Human Capital; C25; J13; Z1.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/92835

This paper carries out an empirical assessment of the relationship between social capital and the quality of economic development in Italy. The analysis draws on a dataset collected by the author including about two hundred variables representing different aspects of economic development and four structural dimensions of social capital. The quality of development is measured through human development and indicators of the state of health of urban ecosystems, public services, gender equality, and labour markets, while social capital is measured through synthetic indicators representing strong family ties, weak informal ties, voluntary organizations, and political participation. The quality of development exhibits a strong positive correlation with...