社会互助,社会信任这些问题,社会学家叫社会资本(social capital),一个社会不但需要物质资本(physical capital),也需要社会资本。经济学家对社会资本也有很多的研究,因为很多人意识到和研究发现,社会资本对经济发展和福利有大的影响。芝加哥商学院著名教授Zingales等人的论文“Civic Capital as the Missing Link”(http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/luigi.zingales/papers/civic_cap.pdf)是2010年的最新相关综述。
我的这一点想法被一篇2008年发表在 Journal of Comparative Politics上的论文所证实
(网址:http://rothstein.dinstudio.se/files/RothsteinStolle_-_final.pdf )。 论文名字是《国家与社会资本:一个关于广义信任的制度理论》 ("The State and Social Capital: An Institutional Theory of Generalized Trust")。这篇论文既有理论也有数据分析。
论文指出,“我们的理论表明了公正的制度对信任的因果作用”
“The theory we have presented gives an explanation for how the causal flow from impartial institutions to generalized trust might operate..”
“However, if our theory is correct, governments cannot put the blame on their citizens for the lack of social capital. Instead, the policy message becomes a very different one, namely that the lack of social capital is caused by dysfunctional government institutions”