The Currency of Connections

Proponents of social capital theory have long argued that it is not only in the best interest of civic life to build social capital but that social capital is vital for the economic health of communities. Yet past studies have failed to distinguish among different types of social capital and have relied on inaccurate measures of economic health. This study reexamines what has become conventional wisdom by analyzing the social capital of American metropolitan areas and its impact on economic well-being. It improves on past studies by examining different types of social capital (i.e., trust, group membership, social networks) and substituting the change in competitive-advantage jobs from shift-share analysis for total job growth and other traditional economic development measures of wealth creation. The study finds that bridging social capital positively affects the economic welfare of communities with respect to job creation.