Social capital: Measurement and consequences

This paper starts with a discussion of definitions of social capital, then turns to
issues in measurement, and finally, presents some evidence on the consequences of social
capital. In the last five years, I have been working exclusively on some specific and
perhaps unique problems about social capital in the United States, so all of my examples
are going to be drawn from the United States experience. I don’t want to be interpreted as
saying these trends are common to all OECD countries. It is just that the United States
has been the main focus of my research for the past five years.