Social capital and human well-being in Romania: an individual level analysis
A.S. College, Khanna, Punjab, India
(Affiliated to Panjab University, Chandigarh, India)
PROCEEDINGS of
North International Conference of Economics,
Issue 1 / 2016,
pp.69-78
ISSN 2537-317X
ABSTRACT
Social capital theorists claim that social capital has positive impacts on various aspects of
societal life, such as economic well-being, health, crime rates, educational achievement, and
adolescent development (Woolcock, 1998). Thus, on the basis of data collected from 1344
individuals by World Values Survey (WVS) wave 6 Romania 2012, the present paper examines
the inter-linkage between social capital and human well-being in Romania. In the study, social
capital is measured by two proxy indicators, the generalized trust among individuals and the
membership of individuals in voluntary organizations. At all Romania level, mean score for
individuals on the social capital index is found to be 5.22 points out of possible 100 points with
standard deviation 10.81. To examine the impact of social capital on human well-being, OLS
regression model is used where human well-being (measured by happiness in life, health
condition, satisfaction in life, freedom of choice, satisfaction of the individual with his/her
financial situation, Romanian citizenship proud, and the extent of savings) is taken as the
dependent variable, and on the other side, social capital, human capital and income level are
taken as the explanatory variables along with two demographic characteristics of the
individuals, gender and age. At mean social capital score of 5.22, the coefficient of the variable
shows that a one unit increase in social capital would increase well-being of individuals by
4.9%. Finally, the study suggests that human well-being programmes should integrate social
capital as an essential element.
Keywords: membership, organization, social capital, trust, well-being.
