Social capital and regional social infrastructure investment: Evidence from New Zealand

Arthur Grimes, Matthew Roskruge, Philip McCann () and Jacques Poot

No 10_03, Working Papers from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research

Abstract: In this paper we link unique data on local social infrastructure expenditure with micro-level individual survey data of self-reported social capital measures of trust and participation in community activities. We use both probit and tobit models to estimate the impact of social infrastructure expenditure on social capital formation. Our results imply that the links between social capital, demographic characteristics, human capital, geography and public social infrastructure investment are rather more subtle and complex than much of the literature implies. While we find evidence in support of many of the hypothesized relationships discussed in the social capital literature, our results also suggest that the impact of public social infrastructure investment is affected by both selection effects and free rider processes.

Keywords: Social capital; trust; participation; public infrastructure; demography; geography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D71 J18 O18 R23 R51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2010-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mtu:wpaper:10_03

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