Social Capital, Networks and Economic Development

This book analyses productive systems from a structural relational perspective, linking the structure and evolution of productive systems to economic development. An epistemological approach is adopted, which considers the social nature of economic actors and the importance of historical and geographical aspects. MarIa Semitiel GarcIa uses the structure and evolution of an agro-food and a metal-mechanical regional productive system to illustrate the benefits of adopting the network perspective as a methodological approach in economic research. The existence and persistence of inter-regional development differences, the structure of production systems, the role of services in these systems and the role of social capital in development are also discussed. Highlighting a holistic and comprehensive study of productive systems and its relationship with development, this book will strongly appeal to a wide-ranging audience, encompassing those with a special interest in regional development, institutional economics, industrial economics and policy, social network analysis and economic sociology.