Contacts, Social Capital and Market Institutions - A Theory of Development

This paper links two concepts of social capital to economic development. Social Capital (SC) appears in the litrature, on the individual level, as the number contacts of an agent has and his ability to raise contacts and, on the community level, as norms that help a society to function. In our economy, sold output increases with the creation of business contacts (Relational Capital as one aspect of SC). The cost of creating contacts is determined by community level social capital (CSC) and Market Institutions (MI). We argue that innovation needs the purposeful destruction of old contacts. Policies can provide disincentives to break old contacts and hence affect innovation. High levels of CSC and MI increase the contact rate, i.e. the labour costs of making RC. The former two also decrease the cost of breaking up contacts. Simulations show that our model is able to explain empirical observations regarding social capital.

Socialism, Capitalism, and Transition - Coordination of Economic Relations and Output Performance

Contacts and the way they are organized in different economic systemsmatter for the economy. In this paper we introduce the notion of Relational Capital to model contacts. Contacts are an input into sold output in our macro model based on matching theory (Pissarides, 1990). We argue that the destruction of some contacts in search for better ones is an integral part of technological advancement. This destruction carries a negative externality on former business partners. Socialist economies restricted such creative destruction, which we argue lead to their increasing technological backwardness. This is our explanation of the output fall during (unrestricted) transition: the technological catch-up implied high levels of destroyed and replaced relational capital. This not only had high direct opportunity costs (more labor is used for the production of relational capital) but also led to a loss in overall relational capital. The basic model is used to simulate plausible transition paths which appear compatible withmany stylized facts of the transition experience. Finally we discuss empirical observations as well as policy issues brought up in the literature.Transition, Economic Systems, Relations, Innovation

Social Capital, Creative Destruction and Economic Growth

This paper provides an analytical framework to capture the economic importance of social capital for growth and innovation. Relational Capital (RC) consists of contacts between economic necessary to acquire inputs and to sell outputs units. These contacts form the individual aspect of social capital that is directly productive. Replacement of old contacts by new ones is part of Schumpeterian creative destruction leading to technological progress. Because informal social networks facilitate the search for contacts, many empirical studies find that social networks supports income generation and innovation. Market institutions enjoy increasing returns to scale in aiding contact formation compared to informal social capital networks. For growth rates in developing countries to increase, a 'fundamental transformation' from informal to formal search institutions is therefore required. But since RC replacement carries a negative externality, creative destruction and technological progress may be punished if it threatens political elite interests. Growth experiences in transition and developing countries are interpreted in this framework.

Social Capital, Creative Destruction and Economic Growth

A distinction between individual and communal aspects of social capital is introduced, and their roles in production explored. Contacts are required to transact. contact formation and replacement are mediated by either market institutions or, less efficiently, by informal networks. Replacement of contacts is part of Schumpeterian creative destruction, leading to technological progress but with a negative externality. For output to increase, a "fundamental transformation" from informal to formal contact creation institutions is required. This may be blocked if political elite interests are threatened by the externality. Growth experiences in transition and developing countries are interpreted in this frameword.

Contacts, Market Institutions, and Development

We propose an endogenous growth model that incorporates the importance of business contacts and informal contacts. In our model, sold output increases with the stock of business contacts. The modelling of contact creation is based on matching theory. The cost of creating contacts decreases with more Community level Social Capital and Market Institutions, which we understand as networks of informal contacts. Technological growth is driven by the replacement of contacts within the economy. Political interference and centralization can provide disincentives to break old contacts and hence affect innovation. Simulations suggests that our model is in line with empirical observations.Endogenous Growth, Relational Capital, Development,

A Panel of Price Indices for Housing, Other Goods, and All Goods for All Areas in the United States 1982-2008

This paper produces a panel of price indices for housing, other produced goods, and all produced goods for each metropolitan area in the United States and the non-metropolitan part of each state from 1982 through 2008 that can be used for estimating behavioral relationships, studying the workings of markets, and assessing differences in the economic circumstances of people living in different areas. Our general approach is to first produce cross-sectional price indices for a single year 2000 and then use BLS time-series price indices to create the panel. Our geographic housing price index for 2000 is based on a large data set with detailed information about the characteristics of dwelling units and their neighborhoods throughout the United States that enables us to overcome many shortcomings of existing interarea housing price indices. For most areas, our price index for all goods other than housing is calculated from the price indices for categories of non-housing goods produced each quarter by the Council for Community and Economic Research. In order to produce a non-housing price index for areas of the United States not covered by their index, we estimate a theoretically-based regression model explaining differences in the composite price index for non-housing goods for areas where it is available and use it to predict a price of other goods for the uncovered areas. The overall consumer price index for all areas is based on the preceding estimates of the price of housing and other goods. The paper also discusses existing interarea price indices available to researchers, and it compares the new housing price index with housing price indices based on alternative methods using the same data and price indices based on alternative data sets. Electronic versions of the price indices are available online.Interarea price indices, interarea housing price indices, geographic cost-of-living differences, geographic price differences

Social Capital, Creative Destruction and Economic Development

This paper develops a conceptual framework for the role of social capital in the political economy of innovation, growth and reform, with illustrations from developing and transition countries. It identifies separate but related roles for the individual and communal interpretations of social capital. It argues that economic growth via innovation requires the creative destruction of individual social capital linkages and discusses the roles of communal social capital and formal market institutions in the process. A negative externality associated with creative destruction implies the possibility of growth accelerations as well as growth traps.