Social Capital: Formation Mechanism And The Mechanism Of Action

At current, Social Capital has become a cross-disciplinary analytical framework with strong explanatory power. Scholars of various disciplines used social capital theory to explain various social and economic phenomena. However, scholars have not a consensus on social capital's mechanism of function and formation.Studying the social capital's mechanism of function and formation in economics perspective and China's social capital levels and trends is the main issues of this dissertation.On the basis of sorting out the existing literature, we clear the economic meaning of social capital. Using the "resources" theory viewpoint of social capital for reference, we present the concept of social capital that seizes the "capital" attributes. Meanwhile, we analyze problems existing in the concept of social capital and point out the relationships between the mail element of these concepts and our concept of social capital.For comprehensively analysis the issues raised by this dissertation, we design two research paths that are called the "Bottom-up" micro-path and "top-down" macro-path.This dissertation analysis the sources of social capital from the micro level and macro level respectively.In chapterâ…£, I examine the creation and evolution of social capital in individual level by translating the issue of formation of social capital into the selection of individual behavior. I, in the framework of direct reciprocity theory and using evolutionary game model, study the individual social capital formation. Conclusions as follows:individual's investment of social capital is the result of individual rational choice, because the action of individuals participating in social networks can provide the necessary conditions in which the cooperation can be created.Chapterâ…¤, from the macro level, descripts the differences of social capital lever between countries, and then I analyze the possible reasons why these differences arise. Finally, I examine the role of these factors in the process of social capital accumulation using national-level data. The conclusions show that "political factors" are the main factors that affect the national level of social capital, but the affect intensity on two dimensions of social capital is different.Chapterâ…¥models the impact of social capital on economic growth. Each level of social capital is introduced into one general equilibrium growth model, not only solve the endogenously problem of social capital, but also clearly identify the channels in which each kind of social capital affect economic growth. The results show the different impacts that individual social capital has on human capital and thus income. On one hand, social capital helps speed up the process of human capital accumulation. On the other hand, because of investing social capital requires time, the person who is rich in social capital will have less time to work. The findings can explain the current discussions about the mixed impact of social capital on growth. Secondly, the model result show that given a society with a strong community effect, a higher level of formal institution raises the level of social capital while in a country with weak community effect, strong formal institution reduces the level of social capital. Finally, if we consider the case of social capital, the traditional economic policy is not necessarily a determinant of economic growth.Chapterâ…¦, from the macro and micro perspective respectively, comprehensive examine the attitude dimension and the structural dimensions of social capital of China. The result show that at the macro level, the social capital attitude dimensions of social capital-has experienced a rapid decline in the early 90s of last century, after then the level of interpersonal trust has maintained a certain level the past 15 years. The change of the structure Dimension presents very different characteristics.At the micro level, the major factor that affects interpersonal trust of our citizens is the trust level in the judicial system. Although the level of participation network and interpersonal trust showed a similar trend, the structural dimension is not the main factors affecting the attitude dimension. Putnam's thesis that levels of social trust increase as levels of civic engagement increase in not supported.