Social Capital, Economic Growth and Transition Economies.

The notion of "social capital" was first introduced by the sociologist James Coleman in 1988. He defined it as "the ability of people to work togather for common purposes in groups and organizations". It is argued that a group with members that trust each other can accomplish more economic groth than a similar group without trust. In this way, Coleman has suggested that social capital is a new production factor which must be added to the conventional concepts of human and physical capital.