Rescuing Social Capital from Social Democracy (Iea Hobart Papers)

This book examines the complex relationships between social capital, markets, and democracy. Many social democrats believe that the failure of past government interventions in social and economic life can be explained by the absence of social capital, and that government must intervene to create that social capital. This monograph argues that participation in markets positively enriches and enhances the stock of social capital, while, conversely, democratic politics may undermine it by facilitating divisive rent-seeking by special interest groups.