Social Capital Definition and Measurement Problems

Global economic crisis encourages governments not only to look beyond financial stabilization measures, but also find the "safeguards" to prevent economic crises in the future. Social capital could be one of these "safeguards". In the paper analysis of social capital definition in different scientific literature is made, measurement problems are identified, the link between social capital and economic development is disclosed. Social capital is a complex phenomenon that includes the following three dimensions – social networks, trust and social norms. Difficulties arise while assessing ambiguity of each dimension: there is not a single, universal definition of social capital nor measurement method, which could be used in empirical studies. In the paper components of social capital are identified, the potential of its measurement is revealed