The Greening of Social Capital: An Examination of Land-Based Groups in Two Vermont Counties

Andrew Savage, Christopher McGrory Klyza and Jonathan Isham ()

Middlebury College Working Paper Series from Middlebury College, Department of Economics

Abstract: By undertaking a census of all agricultural, outdoor recreational, and environmental groups (land-based groups) in two adjacent counties in Vermont, we demonstrate the dramatic increase of local environmental groups in the last 15 years. Building on the methodologies of Kempton et al. (2001), we first show that official lists of nonprofit groups-from the Vermont Secretary of State, the Internal Revenue Service, and local grassroots directories-significantly undercount local environmental groups. Second, we show that since the mid-1980s, the number and membership roles of local autonomous environmental groups have grown rapidly relative to all other types of local and non-local land-based groups in these counties. This article provides preliminary evidence of the recent "greening of social capital."

Keywords: civic engagement; social capital; environmental policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q28 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2004-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0306r

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