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The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development
The Pennsylvania State University
7 Armsby Building, University Park PA 16802-5602
814/863-4656(phone); 814/863-0586(fax)
Please send questions and comments to:
nercrd@psu.edu

Welcome to our Social Capital Resources Website!

Here you will find data on the estimated stock of social capital in each US county for the years 1990, 1997 and 2005.  Please note that the data are presented “as is,” without any implied guarantees for accuracy, and that there are slight differences between 1990/1997 and 2005 as a result of the switch from the SIC to the NAICS codes.

Social Capital Variables for 1990, 1997 and 2005: Social Capital Variables spreadsheet file Data Dictionary SK Variables

"Thanks ... for updating your social capital measures and for letting me know about them.  I continue to spread the word about that valuable resource." Robert Putnam, Author of Bowling Alone, and Professor, Harvard University

US Maps showing county social capital levels

1990	1997	2005

Social Capital Maps 1990-2005 (powerpoint)

If you decide to use these data, please cite the source as follows:
Rupasingha, Anil and Stephan J. Goetz, “US County-Level Social Capital Data, 1990-2005.” The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 2008. http://nercrd.psu.edu/Social_Capital/index.html

Examples of Studies that have used these numbers:

Rupasingha, Anil and Stephan J. Goetz, “Social and Political Forces as Determinants of Poverty,” Journal of Socio-Economics, 36, 4 (Aug. 2007): 650-671.

Rupasingha, Anil, Stephan J. Goetz and David Freshwater, “The production of social capital in US counties,” Journal of Socio-Economics 35 (2006): 83-101.

Goetz, Stephan J. and Anil Rupasingha, “Wal-Mart and Social Capital,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 88, 5 (December 2006): 1304-1310.

Rupasingha, Anil, Stephan J. Goetz and David Freshwater, “Social Capital and Economic Growth: A County-Level Analysis,” Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 32, 3 (2000): 565-72.

Putnam, Robert D. “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century: The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture,” Scandinavian Political Studies, Vol. 30 – No. 2, 2007, 137
http://www.utoronto.ca/ethnicstudies/Putnam.pdf

The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development is located at the Pennsylvania State University and collaborates with land grant institutions in the northeast U.S.