Measuring the Social Capital Index in Provinces of I.R. Iran; Using an Analytical Hierarchy Process

Social capital is a facilitator in the political, social, cultural and especially economical relations. Social capital is produced as a result of human relations within a framework of trust and honesty. After 1990’s, the experts attention was drawn to the social capital as a factor which can reduce the bureaucratic problems. The researchers, in this article, have tried to measure the social capital index in the provinces of Islamic Republic of Iran. After calculating this index, the decreasing trend of this index in the provinces is explained through the regional economic analysis. The researchers have measured the social capital by the Analytical Hierarchy Process and the results are shown by utilizing ARCGIS software. Ultimately, it was concluded that we can divide the country into three U-shaped regions, namely, internal layer, outer layer, and central one. The central and outer layers have, respectively, the most social capital.