Social Capital: A Standard Method of Measurement.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a standard method of measurement for social capital. Various authors have investigated the influence of social capital on economic growth but still social capital has not been measured in any satisfactory way. So far, each survey has used its own ad hoc methodology due to the heterogeneity of the very definition of the concept of social capital. A consensus concerning a standardized method of measurement, has not yet been reached. Based on the existing theoretical and empirical approaches, we suggest the use of a questionnaire where the principal component analysis should be applied as the most appropriate method of measurement.