Christiaan Grootaert

Measuring Social Capital : An Integrated Questionnaire

The idea of social capital has enjoyed a remarkable rise to prominence in both the theoretical and applied social science literature over the last decade. While lively debate has accompanied that journey, thereby helping to advance our thinking and to clarify areas of agreement and disagreement, much still remains to be done. One approach that we hope can help bring further advances for both scholars and practitioners is the provision of a set of empirical tools for measuring social capital. The purpose of this paper is to introduce such a tool-the Integrated Questionnaire for the Measurement of Social Capital (SC-IQ)-with a focus on applications in developing countries. The tool aims to generate quantitative data on various dimensions of social capital as part of a larger household survey (such as the Living Standards Measurement Survey or a household income/expenditure survey). Specifically, six dimensions are considered: groups and networks; trust and solidarity; collective action and cooperation; information and communication; social cohesion and inclusion; empowerment and political action. The paper addresses sampling and data collection issues for implementing the SC-IQ and provides guidance for the use and analysis of data. The tool has been pilot-tested in Albania and Nigeria and a review of lessons learned is presented.

Social Capital, Household Welfare, and Poverty in Indonesia

The author empirically estimates how social capital affects household welfare and poverty in Indonesia. His focus: household memberships in local associations, an aspect of social capital especially relevant to daily household decisions that affect welfare and consumption. The data suggest that households with higher social capital spend more per capita. They also have more assets, more savings, and better access to credit. To estimate how social capital contributes to household welfare, the author uses a reduced-form model of household welfare, which controls for relevant household and location characteristics. He measures social capital along six dimensions: density of memberships, internal heterogeneity of associations (by age, gender, education, religion, and so on), meeting attendance, active participation in decision-making, payment of dues, and community orientation. The strongest effects come from: A) Number of memberships. Each additional membership (an average of 20 percent increase) raises per capita household spending 1.5 percent. B) Internal heterogeneity. An increase of 20 percent in the heterogeneity index correlates with 3.3 percent more spending. C) Active participation in decision making. An increase of 20 percent in the participation index correlates with 3.2 percent more spending. The author also estimates structural equations and uses instrumental variable estimation and historical data to address the possible endogeneity of the social capital variable and to demonstrate that the causality runs from social capital to household welfare.

The Role of Social Capital in Development: An Empirical Assessment

Foreword Robert D. Putnam Introduction and overview Christiaan Grootaert and Thierry van Bastelaer Part I. Social Capital at the Micro and Macro Levels: A Conceptual Discussion and Review: 1. Social capital and poverty: a microeconomic perspective Paul Collier 2. Social capital, growth, and poverty: a survey of cross-country evidence Stephen Knack Part II. The Impact of Social Capital on Development: 3. Mapping and measuring social capital through assessment of collective action to conserve and develop watersheds in Rajasthan, India Anirudh Krishna and Norman Uphoff 4. Social capital and the firm: evidence from agricultural traders in Madagascar Marcel Fafchamps and Bart Minten 5. How do participation and social capital affect community-based water projects? Evidence from central Java, Indonesia Jonathan Isham and Satu Kahkonen 6. Does social capital increase participation in voluntary solid waste management? Evidence from Dhaka, Bangladesh Sheoli Pargal, Daniel Gilligan, and Mainul Huq Part III. The Creation and Transformation of Social Capital: 7. The impact of development assistance on social capital: evidence from Kenya Mary Kay Gugerty and Michael Kremer 8. Induced social capital and federations of the rural poor in the Andes Anthony J. Bebbington and Thomas F. Carroll 9. Social capital and social cohesion: case studies from Cambodia and Rwanda Nat J. Colletta and Michelle L. Cullen 10. Ethnicity, capital formation, and conflict: evidence from Africa Robert H. Bates and Irene Yackovlev I 11. Measuring impact and drawing policy implications Christiaan Grootaert and Thierry van Bastelaer.

Poverty correlates and indicator-based targeting in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

The authors compare poverty in three Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland) with poverty in three countries of the former Soviet Union (Estonia, Kyrgyz Republic, and Russia). They find striking differences between the post-Soviet and Eastern European experiences with poverty and targeting. Among patterns detected: a) Poverty in Eastern Europe is significantly lower than in former Soviet Union countries. b) Rural poverty is greater than urban poverty. c) In Eastern Europe there is a strong correlation between poverty incidence and the number of children in a household; in the former Soviet Union countries this is less pronounced, except in Russia. d) There is a gender and age dimension to poverty in some countries. In single-person households, especially of elder women, the poverty rate is very high (except in Poland) and poverty is more severe. The same is true in pensioner households (except in Poland). In Poland the pension system has adequate reach. e) Poverty rates are highest among people who have lost their connection with the labor market and live on social transfers (other than pensions) or other nonearned income. But through sheer mass, the largest group of poor people is the working poor -- especially workers with little education (primary education or less) or outdated vocational or technical education. Only those with special skills or university education escape poverty in great numbers, thanks to the demand for their skills from the newly emerging private sector. f) The poverty gap is remarkably uniform in Eastern European countries, especially Hungary and Poland, suggesting that social safety nets have prevented the emergence of deep pockets of poverty. This is much less true in the former Soviet Union, where those with the highest poverty rate also have the largest poverty gap. In the short to medium term, creating employment in the informal sector will generate a larger payoff than creating jobs in the formal (still to be privatized) sectors, so programs to help (prospective) entrepreneurs should take center stage in poverty alleviation programs.

Tenancy choice and the demand for rental housing in the cities of the Ivory Coast

Rapid urban population growth characterizes many developing countries. The World Bank [31] estimates that the urban population of low-income economies has grown at an average annual rate of 4.5% between 1973 and 1983, and that of middle income countries at 3.9%. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the rates are much higher, about 6% on the average. It is not surprising therefore that urban planning and the satisfaction of housing needs have become of major concern in many countries. The design of urban and housing policies, however, has been hampered by the dearth of information about the parameters of housing demand. Elasticity estimates are available for less than a dozen developing countries, none of which is a sub-Saharan African country (see the reviews by Jimenez and Keare [16] and Malpezzi et al. [21]). Estimated tenancy choice models are even rarer. In the Ivory Coast, more than 42

The impact of development assistance on social capital: evidence from Kenya

of the country’s population currently lives in cities, up from 19% in 1960. Between 1973 and 1983, the urban population in the country increased at an 8.5% annual rate. In 1983, Abidjan, the capital and largest city, contained 2 million inhabitants, 21% of the country’s population and 51% of the urban population. Forecasting studies on the development of Abidjan indicate that this growth will not slow in the coming years (Ahonzo et al. [l]; Massein [22]).

The Use of Multiple Diaries in a Household Expenditure Survey in Hong Kong

A large body of literature suggests that social capital is important for development (see Coleman 1990; Putnam 1993; Woolcock 1998, among others). Perhaps in response, many donors are actively trying to support the development of civil society and social capital in developing countries. Donors are funding local NGOs, structuring development projects in ways that allow for participation, and providing organizational training for community groups and NGOs. Yet the effectiveness of these efforts to build social capital is largely unknown. While considerable effort has gone into elucidating the effects of social capital, the determinants of social capital are less well understood. Is social capital determined exclusively by long-run historical, cultural, and economic forces? Or can it be influenced in the short run by policy? If so, how? One reading of Putnams work on Italy (1993) is that social capital is the result of long-term institutional development and may be very difficult to produce. Other literature suggests that organizational social capital can be eroded by economic restructuring (Heying 1997; Schulman and Anderson 1998) and may also be created in a relatively short period through either national organizations (Minkoff 1997) or community organizing in face-to-face interactions (Wood 1997). One problem plaguing many studies of social capital is the difficulty of inferring causation from correlation in retrospective data.

Social capital and social cohesion: case studies from Cambodia and Rwanda

Abstract This article discusses two aspects of using daily expenditure records, commonly referred to as diaries, in a household expenditure survey, based on the experience of the 1979–1980 Hong Kong Household Expenditure Survey. In particular, the article investigates the determinants of the decision by individual household members to fill out diaries, conditional upon the household having agreed to participate in the survey. In addition, estimates are presented of the additional reporting that results from household members keeping individual diaries, as opposed to one member keeping one household diary book.

Poverty and Social Transfers in Poland

This paper is based on a study on the dynamics of violent conflict, and social capital, whose data have been drawn from an extensive review, and community level studies conducted in Cambodia, and Rwanda. The experimental study design looks at two communities selected in each country, each one in a high, and low intensity conflict area, respectively. However, the findings are limited by modifications in the methodology between countries, and uneven quality of data collection in each community. The definitions, and indicators used in both countries, focused primarily on informal, and local horizontal relationships, such as trust, and cross-cutting networks, and to some extent, on certain aspects of vertical relationships, particularly state, and market penetration, as important factors in fueling conflict, and influencing the formation, and transformation of social capital. The paper describes the concepts, and definitions of social capital, primarily from works by Putnam, Coleman, Fukuyama, and Uphoff, while Narayans work also emphasizes on the importance of inclusion of the state in social capital analysis, in examining the dynamics of complementarity, and substitution. And in the context of violent conflict, and its interface with social capital, and social cohesion, the later refers to broader intertwined features of society, and is defined as the key intervening variable between social capital, and violent conflict, i.e., the higher the degree to which state responsiveness, and cross-cutting network relations of social capital intersect, the more likely a society will be cohesive to the inclusion necessary to mediate conflict, and prevent violence.

The Determinants of Poverty in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Since January 1990, Polands social safety net has changed greatly. Unemployment benefits were introduced, for example, because of escalating unemployment (about 15 percent of the labor force at the end of 1993). The cost of the social safety net has risen sharply since the transition began, both absolutely and as a fraction of GDP. In 1993, social transfers accounted for 18.7 percent of GDP, as follows: 1) pensions=14.9 percent; 2) unemployment benefits=1.9 percent; 3) family allowance and other social insurance=1.4 percent; and 4) social assistance=0.5 percent. To investigate the present systems impact on income distribution, the author uses the household budget survey data for January-June 1993, the first complete survey of the Polish population. The conventional benchmark for measuring poverty in Poland, the social minimum, has become largely irrelevant, as 55 percent of the people fall below that spending level. Using two other measures, the author finds that in 1993 26.3 percent of the population had an expenditure level (per adult equivalent) below the minimum wage, and 14.4 percent were spending at a level below the minimum pension. He discusses four proposals for improving the ability of social transfers (other than pensions) to reduce poverty. These proposals are either budget-neutral or imply only modest increases in the total amount of transfers. One, income-testing the family allowance and doubling that amount for large households. This would reduce poverty from 14.4 to 13.2 percent - and, among large households, from 43 to 28 percent. Two, reducing eligibility for the family allowance from 20 to 18 years and taxing the allowance; providing income-tested daycare vouchers for young children. This would make the family allowancee more progressive. Reducing eligibility and taxing the allowance would raise poverty about one percent point, which would be largely offset by the daycare vouchers. Three, improving income testing for social assistance. More than half or current beneficiaries are not poor. A 20 percent improvement in targeting would reduce poverty by about 0.3 percentage points. Four, extending eligibility for unemployment benefits for low-skilled unemployed members of the labor force in large households. This would increase benefits by about 7 percent, but reduce poverty about 0.4 percent points - benefiting especially the poorest part of the population.