The Causal Nexus Between Social Capital and Local Development in Mountain Rural Greece

The primary aim of this paper is to analyze the components of individual social capital in two rural mountain areas in Greece. The paper also aims to develop an empirical model to investigate the causal relationship between social capital s different dimensions and the “quality” of local socio-economic development in Greece s rural mountain areas. Due to the complex nature of the social capital concept, the scope of inquiry was based on two different case study areas, in order to enable a more compelling and robust interpretation of the information collected. A questionnaire containing 100 items was administered to approximately 318 citizens in these areas. Our results overall indicate a significant influence by the strength of family ties on the nature of social capital and socio-economic outcomes in Greek rural areas.