Social Capital, Trust, and Well-being in the Evaluation of Wealth

Hamilton, Kirk ; Helliwell, John ; Woolcock, Michael

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: UNEMPLOYMENT;    PHYSICAL CAPITAL;    SOCIAL NORMS;    CONSUMPTION;    EXTERNAL;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7707
RP-ID  :  WPS7707

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper combines theory with datafrom different domains to provide an empirical analysis ofthe scale and variability of social capital as wealth. Theanalysis is used to argue, given what has been learned fromthe literature on social capital, that the welfare returnsto investing in trust could be substantial. Using data from132 nations covered by the Gallup World Poll, the paperpresents a range of estimates of the wealth-equivalentvalues of social trust. Such values are usually not includedin national or global accounts of income and wealth. In thelight of the estimated importance of social trust as acomponent of wealth and well-being, the paper concludes withsome policy options for how social trust might be betterbuilt and sustained.