The Korean Economic Forum
A Measurement of Social Capital Index
Kap-Young Jeong (Yonsei University) and Donghun Kim (Yonsei University)Year 2019Vol. 12No. 1
Abstract
Previous studies indicate that social capital promotes economic activities byfacilitating cooperation and lowering transaction costs among economic agents.However, rigorous academic research on the social capital measurement hasbeen very scarce. This paper develops a social capital index which measures thelevel of social capital in the selected 72 countries. The index consists of threepillars: trust, norm and network. Korea is ranked at 21st among the samplecountries and it trails behind other OECD countries in terms of social capital.We also have found that social capital index is highly correlated with othersocioeconomic variables such as per capita income, education, and incomeinequality. Korea is currently in a critical situation that may soon turn into socialinclusion crisis due to sluggish economic growth and polarization. The society isin dire need to accumulate social capital that will lead the country in creating anew development model.