The Solaria Syndrome: Social Capital in a Growing Hyper-Technological Economy

Abstract

We develop a dynamic model to analyze the sources and the evolution of social participation and social capital in a growing economy characterized by exogenous technical progress. Starting from the assumption that the well-being of agents basically depends on material and relational goods, we show that the best-case scenarios hold when technology and social capital both support just one of the two productions at the expenses of the other. However, trajectories are possible where technology and social interaction balance one another in fostering the growth of both the social and the private sector of the economy. Along such tracks, technology may play a crucial role in supporting a "socially sustainable" economic growth.

See you on Facebook! A framework for analyzing the role of computer-mediated interaction in the evolution of social capital

“…As the social environment deteriorates, relational activities can become less and less rewarding. Agents may thus prefer to reduce their own social participation as well Vanin 2007, Antoci, Sabatini andSodini 2011a). In this paper we argue that computer-mediated interaction, and particularly online networking, can help mitigate this downward trend.…”

Economic Growth, Technological Progress and Social Capital: The Inverted U Hypothesis

“…As suggested by Antoci et al . (), we assume that social capital also plays a role in the production process of the private good. In this way, we model the claim raised by previous empirical studies that sociocultural traits—often grouped together under the common label of social capital—are factors that enhance the production of material goods (Knack and Keefer, ; Paldam and Svendsen, ; Sequeira and Ferreira‐Lopes, ).…”

Civility vs. Incivility in Online Social Interactions: An Evolutionary Approach

“…Our focus on social poverty traps is also related to previous economic and sociological studies that analyzed how economic growth and technological progress may cause a decline in face-to-face social interactions ([14]–[15]), and to the literature concerning the “decline of community life thesis” ([16]).…”