Abstract

Social capital and its role in economic practice have remarkably
attracted economists all around the world. Despite of lots of studies
around the topic, this field of study did not find a synthesis over the
concept of social capital. However, this is the correlation of social
capital with economic growth which is in the focus of attention in this
research paper. What is the concept of social capital and how does it
affects economic growth are two questions which this research paper
is intended to find answers for them. Therefore, two types of social
capital are considered here; bonding and bridging social capital.
Based on models of economic growth and applying data related to
Iranian values, attitudes and Iran's cultural behaviors, the impact of
these two variables on economic growth of ٢٨ provinces of Iran
through ٢٠٠٠ – ٢٠٠٣ has been evaluated. Applying OLS in this
research, it shows that there is an inverse relationship between
bonding and bridging social capital. While bridging social capital has
found positive and remarkable effect on economic growth, bonding
social capital meet supposed indices with both positive and negative
effect on economic growth.