Russia’s missing linkŒ Social capital, entrepreneurialism, and economic performance in post-communist Russia

Abstract

This paper argues that there is a spurious correlation between social capital and economic development in the regions of post-communist Russia. This argument rejects Robert Putnam’s collectivist hypothesis that social capital is the ubiquitous cause of economic growth. Rather, the data presented in this paper indicates that individualistic behavior in the form of entrepreneurialism, has been the prerequisite for growth in post-communist Russia. While social capital may slow or accelerate economic growth, it will not cause it. Without entrepreneurialism, social capital cannot be harnessed for economic development. In essence, social capital does not create wealth, entrepreneurs do.

Bounded Generalizations Revisited: Is the Post-Communist Area a World in Reverse?

“…The author claims, based on empirical evidence from post-communist Russia, that political actors establish a constitutional court to enhance their democratic credibility. Buttrick and Moran (2005) argue that there is a spurious correlation between social capital and economic development in the regions of post-communist Russia. This argument rejects Putnam's hypothesis that social capital is the ubiquitous cause of economic growth.…”

“…To put it simple, they all agree that some patterns in the post-communist context contradict the universality patterns established by studying different regions and different historic context. This group includes Agh (2002), who claims that unlike the West European social-democratic parties that have experienced with various versions of the "Third Way" policies, their East European homologues had to overcome economic deficit through creating huge social deficit; Aligica (2003), who claims that in the post-communist context the direct relationship between institutional structures, institutional learning and the emerging values is difficult to establish and substantiate; Buttrick and Moran (2005), who argue that there is a spurious correlation between social capital and economic development, an argument maintained by Putnam, in the regions of post-communist Russia; Ganev (2005), who claims that the process of democratization in the postcommunist context represents, contrary to Charles Tilly's hypothesis of state formation, a process of weakening, not strengthening the state; Bunce and Wolchik (2006), who claim that the cross-national diffusion of the electoral model in the post-communist region may have run its course, largely because of less supportive local and international conditions; Petrovic (2008), who argues that there is a limited explanatory value to structural arguments of the role of initial conditions in assessing the reasons for the slower progress of the Balkan states in post-communist reform; Koinova (2009), who states that contrary to the predominant understanding in the literature, that diasporas act in exclusively nationalist ways, they in fact do engage with the democratization of their home countries; Valkov (2009), who challenges the hypothesis, inspired from Putnam's studies on social capital, that there is cohabitation of civic engagement and democratic institutions and practices; Ganev (2011) who introduces a more comprehensive research program focused on the context-specific challenges inherent in the attempt to re-establish tax states in the formerly communist countries; Rybar (2011), who shows that the dominant theory of European integration, the liberal intergovernmentalism, contains several assumptions about the process and character of national preference formation that may not be fully met in the post-communist EU member states.…”

“…Let me first start with the group of bounded generalizations. It includes the following authors: Agh (2002), Aligica (2003), Buttrick and Moran (2005), Ganev (2005), Bunce and Wolchik (2006), Petrovic (2008), Koinova (2009), Valkov (2009), Ganev (2011), and Rybar (2011) -Aligica, Ganev, Petrovic, Koinova and Valkov, were born and grew in three Balkan countries where Eastern Orthodoxy is traditionally the dominant religion -Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. All of them currently do not work in this region, although it remains their primary research focus.…”

Regions in the Czech Republic - Are There Connections between Economic Development, Social Capital, and Government Performance?

“…Studie Milnera a Erssona [Milner, Ersson 2000] zaměřená na regiony ve Švédsku přišla dokonce se závěrem, že lze prokázat silnou negativní korelaci mezi úrovní sociálního kapitálu a ekonomickým rozvojem, což autoři opět přičítali silnému vlivu geografi ckých faktorů projevujících se v polarizaci Švédska na urbánní ekonomicky výkonný jih s relativně nižší hladinou sociálního kapitálu a periferní rurální ekonomicky zaostávající sever s relativně vyšší hladinou sociálního kapitálu. Podobně studie Buttricka a Morana [Buttrick, Moran 2005] zaměřená na analýzu faktorů ekonomického úspěchu regionů v Rusku skončila závěrem, že vztah mezi úrovní sociálního kapitálu a ekonomickým rozvojem je negativní. V jihoruských regionech typických nejvyššími hodnotami sociálního kapitálu byl zaznamenán nejmenší ekonomický růst a nejvyšší nezaměstnanost.…”

Is social capital useful for explaining economic development in polish regions?

“…the lack of independent civic associations is known in Polish sociology literature as the 'middle range social vacuum' (nowak 1979), and is claimed to be still relevant in explaining the low resources of bridging social capital in Poland (Kubiak and miszalska 2004;lasinska 2013). Shortages of goods in the centrally planned economy also led to the development of many informal connections, which, for some, are a proof of antimodern forms of social capital in post-communist countries (Buttrick and moran 2005;Kolankiewicz 1996;Rose 1998Rose , 2000. Yet, there is no clear answer to the question of whether these relations still have an impact on the development of the market economy.…”