This book is the first fruit of a joint study into social capital by the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas (Ivie) and the BBVA Foundation. The study focuses on the relations that develop in the economic sphere, especially in labour, financial and investment markets where lasting relationship are formed within a context of uncertainty.

A new methodology is put forward – inspired by physical capital measurement techniques – for estimating social capital and its effects on growth in the past decades. Its application to Spain and the OECD countries provides a wide database with hitherto unavailable data on this variable.