Social capital in Brazil: an analysis of its determinants

Abstract

The article analyzes the determinants of social capital in Brazil. To meet this objective, we initially calculated a social capital index based on the principal component technique. For the construction of this index, we considered twenty indicators taken from the World Values Survey (WVS), eleven of them related to the interviewed participation in organizations/associations, and nine referring to interpersonal trust. The analysis is based on the marginal effects of the logit model. Among the results obtained, we found that the variable that most tends to contribute to the formation of social capital is education. Having a college degree tends to increase the chances of an individual having, for example, a “very high” endowment of social capital by 14%. We also observed that those who live in the Midwest and South regions of Brazil are more likely to have a higher level of this capital. The dummies variables related to gender and race were not statistically significant. Thus, the discrimination factor, based on these variables, does not seem to interfere in the process of forming the social capital of Brazilians. As a policy proposition, we recommended to intensify public policies aimed primarily at the expansion and quality of education in Brazil, since this is the main contributing factor for the formation of a high level of social capital in the country.