Social Capital in the Knowledge Economy: Theory and Empirics (Advances in Spatial Science)

It is possible that there once was a time when scholars used to sit isolated with their cogitations in their attics, emerging now and then to publish their latest e- dite offerings which no one had ever thought of before. If such a time did once - ist, it certainly does so no longer. Writing a scientific or scholarly book in our era is to a large extent a team effort in which your team members are continually changing and you are unceasingly grateful for the privilege of enjoying and be- fiting from the exertions, ideas, comments and support of a large number of very able people. Scientific and scholarly work nowadays is a process impossible wi- out the existence and use of social capital. This book is no exception to the above stated. There are very many colleagues (some of them referees and thus anonymous) and friends who have made the book possible. The foremost of these is Roger Bolton, with whom I wrote my first paper on social capital. Most of that paper has found its way into various passages of this book, while Chapter 6, Social Capital and Entrepreneurship, comes almost c- pletely from Roger's pen. Thank you, Roger, for letting me use your text! The empirical studies of the biotech industries of Japan, California and Sweden would have been impossible without a great deal of help. "This book analyzes the social capital of the growing knowledge economy. The theoretical part discusses social capital as an economic concept, its relation to traditional capital theory and its role as a spatial externality. A theory of the social capital of the enterprise is developed and social capital's importance for entrepreneurship, innovation and regional development is analyzed. The empicical part compare some central aspects of social capital of three different socio-economic systems: the US, Japan and Sweden, regarding labor market relations, innovation systems and the civil societies. The social capitals of the knowledge intensive biotech industries of the three countries are studied and compared. Finally, a number of issues for further research are discussed."--Publisher's website.

This book analyzes the social capital of the growing knowledge economy, from both theoretical and empirical points of view. The theoretical section discusses social capital as an economic concept, developing a theory of the social capital of the enterprise. The empirical section compares aspects of the social capital of three different socio-economic systems: the US, Japan and Sweden. The book discusses a number of issues for further research.

Analyzes the social capital of the knowledge economy. This book discusses social capital as an economic concept, its relation to traditional capital theory and its role as a spatial externality. It develops a theory of the social capital of the enterprise and analyzes its importance for entrepreneurship, innovation and regional development During the 1990s a new concept of capital, social capital, came into general use alongside the established concepts of financial, real, and human capital.