Effects of Bonding and Bridging Social Capital on Economic Growth of Iran's Provinces

Social capital and its role in economic practice have remarkably attracted economists all around the world. Despite of lots of studies around the topic, this field of study did not find a synthesis over the concept of social capital. However, this is the correlation of social capital with economic growth which is in the focus of attention in this research paper. What is the concept of social capital and how does it affects economic growth are two questions which this research paper is intended to find answers for them. Therefore, two types of social capital are considered here; bonding and bridging social capital. Based on models of economic growth and applying data related to Iranian values, attitudes and Iran's cultural behaviors, the impact of these two variables on economic growth of 28 provinces of Iran through 2000 – 2003 has been evaluated. Applying OLS in this research, it shows that there is an inverse relationship between bonding and bridging social capital. While bridging social capital has found positive and remarkable effect on economic growth, bonding social capital meet supposed indices with both positive and negative effect on economic growth.