Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7538351 | Social Networks | 2018 | 15 Pages |
Abstract
In this study, we analyze the relationship between network structure and economic prosperity in 438 Dutch municipalities. We focus on the structural aspects of social capital theory and test how three forms of social capital - network density, fragmentation (bonding), diversity and geographical distance of ties (bridging) - are associated with economic prosperity at the municipality level. We use data from a Dutch online social network that consists of more than 10 million users to test the hypotheses. We find that communities that have high network diversity are also more prosperous economically, while high network fragmentation is associated with lower prosperity. Contrary to previous literature, we find some support that network density at the community level is negatively associated with economic prosperity.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Mathematics
Statistics and Probability
Authors
Lukas Norbutas, Rense Corten,