Social Capital, the Economy and Well-being

John Helliwell

A chapter in The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s, 2001, vol. 1 from Centre for the Study of Living Standards, The Institutute for Research on Public Policy

Abstract: In this chapter, John Helliwell sets the scene for many of the papers that follow by providing an up-to-date and lucid survey of the literature on the impact of social capital on both the economy or economic performance and well-being. This latter term is closely related to the concept of social progress used in this volume. He begins by defining social capital as the networks and norms that facilitate cooperative activities within groups (bonding social capital) and between groups (bridging social capital). Helliwell documents a number of studies that show that social capital actually saves lives. He surveys the literature on subjective well-being, pointing out that unemployment lowers subjective well-being by more than the usual measure of economic cost and certainly more than inflation.

Keywords: Well-being; Wellbeing; Well Being; Social Progress; Social; Societal; Society; Values; Index; Indexes; Indices; Indicator; Indicators; Social Capital; Happiness; Life Satisfaction; Subjective Well-being; Subjective (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I30 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
ISBN: 0-88645-190-6
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (45)

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