The role of human and social capital in growth: extending our understanding

Human capital, institutions and social capital are now all recognised as significant factors of growth. They have largely been studied separately, and although they present sufficient common characteristics to be conceptualised as one main category distinct from physical capital, it may still be more important to focus on the links between their specific sub-categories. Direct links with income may be spurious, as there appears to be a 'web of associations' between the sub-categories, which would benefit from further empirical investigation. This paper reviews the literature on human capital, institutions and social capital, extracting three sub-categories of human capital (human skills capital, stock-of-knowledge and entrepreneurship) and two of social capital (low- and high-rationalisation). Specific areas are then suggested for further empirical study.