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Social Capital and the Innovative Performance of Italian Provinces

Author

Listed:
  • Riccardo Crescenzi

    (Department of Geography and Environment and SERC, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England)

  • Luisa Gagliardi

    (Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England)

  • Marco Percoco

    (Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management, Università Bocconi, Via Sarfatti, 25 Milan, Italy)

Abstract

Social capital has remained relatively underexplored in innovation literature due to the lack of consensus on the most suitable operationalisation for the analysis of innovative dynamics. This paper aims to fill this gap by looking at social capital as propensity towards civicness and prosocial behaviour that facilitates the circulation of nonredundant knowledge among otherwise disconnected groups. The quantitative analysis of the innovative performance of Italian provinces shows that social capital—proxied by blood donations and participation into voluntary associations—is an important predictor of innovative performance after controlling for ‘traditional’ knowledge inputs (R&D and human capital). In addition, instrumental variable analysis makes it possible to identify clear causal links between social capital and innovation, suggesting that social norms play an important role in shaping the incentives for knowledge generation, circulation, and accumulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Riccardo Crescenzi & Luisa Gagliardi & Marco Percoco, 2013. "Social Capital and the Innovative Performance of Italian Provinces," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 908-929, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:45:y:2013:i:4:p:908-929
    DOI: 10.1068/a45221
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    innovation; social capital; knowledge transfer; regional development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General

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