Social Capital, Finance, and Consumption : Evidence from a Representative Sample of Chinese Households

Cull, Robert ; Gan, Li ; Gao, Nan ; Xu, Lixin Colin

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: social capital;    finance;    informal finance;    consumption;    access to credit;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7873
RP-ID  :  WPS7873

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Using a new, nationally representativesample of Chinese households, this paper studies how socialcapital affects access to credit and its implications forconsumption levels. The paper focuses on two specific formsof social capital: private social networks and membership inthe Communist Party. Although party affiliation is linked tohigher consumption in rural areas, those benefits are directand thus do not work through credit markets. The mainfinding is a strong link between private social networks,use of informal credit, and household consumption.Instrumental variable regressions indicate that the link iscausal. However, the study finds no evidence that socialcapital has facilitated formal credit market development inChina, as it has in countries with higher levels of privatesector development.