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Economic Growth and Social Capital in Italy

Robert D. Putnam, +1 more
- 01 Jan 1995 - 
- Vol. 21, Iss: 3, pp 295-307
TLDR
This paper found strong convergence of per capita incomes among the Italian regions during the 1960s and 1970s, using any of three measures: an index of civic community, the effectiveness of regional government, and citizen satisfaction with regional government.
Abstract
We find strong convergence of per capita incomes among the Italian regions during the 1960s and 1970s. Convergence is faster, and equilibrium income levels higher, in regions with more social capital, using any of three measures: an index of civic community, the effectiveness of regional government, and citizen satisfaction with regional government. Our evidence also supports the idea that the post-1983 increases in regional dispersion of per capita GDP are due to the increased autonomy of regional governments being used more effectively in regions with higher levels of social capital. Both results confirm Putnam's view that social institutions matter, while also supporting a version of conditional convergence that makes catching-up a function of the size of the productivity gap between the richer and poorer regions.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used indicators of trust and civic norms from the World Values Surveys for a sample of 29 market economies and found that membership in formal groups is not associated with trust or with improved economic performance.
Journal ArticleDOI

The social context of well-being.

TL;DR: This work confirms that social capital is strongly linked to subjective well-being through many independent channels and in several different forms, both directly and through their impact on health.
Posted Content

Who Trusts Others

TL;DR: The authors found that the strongest factors associated with low trust are: i) a recent history of traumatic experiences; ii) belonging to a group that historically felt discriminated against, such as minorities (blacks in particular) and women; iii) being economically unsuccessful in terms of income and education; iv) living in a racially mixed community and/or in one with a high degree of income disparity.
Journal ArticleDOI

Who trusts others

TL;DR: This paper found that the strongest factors associated with low trust are: (i) a recent history of traumatic experiences; (ii) belonging to a group that historically felt discriminated against, such as minorities (blacks in particular) and, to a lesser extent, women; (iii) being economically unsuccessful in terms of income and education; (iv) living in a racially mixed community and/or in one with a high degree of income disparity.

The Well-Being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital. Education and Skills.

Tom Healy, +1 more
TL;DR: The role of human capital in the economic and social development of nations is commonly acknowledged although its exact effects are still in dispute as mentioned in this paper, however, increasing attention has been focused on the role of social capital or the role in social relationships and individual abilities in economic activity and social well-being.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth

TL;DR: The authors examined whether the Solow growth model is consistent with the international variation in the standard of living, and they showed that an augmented Solow model that includes accumulation of human as well as physical capital provides an excellent description of the cross-country data.
BookDOI

Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy

TL;DR: Putnam et al. as discussed by the authors analyzed the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, revealing patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity.
Book

Innovation and growth in the global economy

TL;DR: Grossman and Helpman as discussed by the authors developed a unique approach in which innovation is viewed as a deliberate outgrowth of investments in industrial research by forward-looking, profit-seeking agents.
Posted Content

International R&D Spillovers

TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of both domestic and foreign R&D capital stocks on total factor productivity were investigated and it was shown that the foreign stocks had large effects on the smaller countries in the sample.