Social capital is an important factor explaining differences in economic growth among regions. However, the key distinction between bonding social capital, which can lead to lock-in and myopia, and bridging social capital, which promotes knowledge flows across diverse groups, has been overlooked in growth research. In this paper, we address this shortcoming by examining how bonding and bridging social capital affect regional economic growth, using data for 190 regions in 21 EU countries, covering eight waves of the European Social Survey between 2002 and 2016. The findings confirm that bridging social capital is linked to higher levels of regional economic growth. Bonding social capital is highly correlated with bridging social capital and associated with lower growth when this is controlled for. We do not find significantly different effects of bonding social capital in regions with more or less bridging social capital, or vice versa. We examine the interaction between social and human capital, finding that bridging social capital is fundamental for stimulating economic growth, especially in low-skilled regions. Human capital also moderates the relationship between bonding social capital and growth, reducing the negative externalities imposed by excessive bonding.

社会资本是解释地区间经济增长差异的重要因素。但是，在增长研究中，键合社会资本（可以导致锁定和近视）与桥接社会资本（可以促进跨不同群体的知识流）之间的主要区别已被忽略。在本文中，我们通过研究21个欧盟国家/地区中190个地区的数据（涵盖2002年至2016年间的八次欧洲社会调查），研究了社会资本之间的联系和桥接如何影响区域经济增长，从而解决了这一缺陷。资本与更高水平的区域经济增长相关。绑定社会资本与桥接社会资本高度相关，并且在受到控制的情况下与较低的增长相关。我们发现，在具有或多或少桥接社会资本的地区，结合社会资本的效果没有显着差异，反之亦然。我们研究了社会资本和人力资本之间的相互作用，发现桥接社会资本是刺激经济增长的基础，特别是在低技能地区。人力资本还缓和了社会资本与增长之间的关系，减少了过度粘结带来的负面外部性。