Abstract

Economic processes, consisting of interactions between human beings, exploit the social capital of persons endowed with specific culture and identities. The role of institutions and policy makers is to build positive social capital and exploit it to reach their objectives. However, social capital is elusive and has several dimensions by which to interpret its multifaceted functions in economics and society. We cannot forget, furthermore, that social capital sometimes is undesirable for society, for instance when used for unethical uses. Even so, it is widely accepted that social capital has stable and positive effects.