The Prosperous Community Social Capital and Public Life By Robert D.

Putnam I Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow. I have no kindness for you, and know you have as little for me. I will not, therefore, take any pains upon your account; and should I labour with you upon my own account, in expectation of a return, I know I should be disappointed, and that I should in vain depend upon your gratitude. ere then I leave you to labour alone; You treat me in the same manner. The seasons change; and both of us lose our harvests for want of mutual confidence and security. --David Hume The predicament of the farmers in Hume's parable is all too familiar in communities and nations around the world

Parents in communities everywhere want better educational opportunities for their children! but collaborative efforts to improve public schools falter. Residents of "merican #hettos share an interest in safer streets! but collective action to control crime fails. Poor farmers in the Third $orld need more effective irri#ation and mar%etin# schemes! but cooperation to these ends proves fra#ile. &lobal warmin# threatens livelihoods from 'anhattan to 'auritius! but (oint action to forestall this shared ris% founders.

)ailure to cooperate for mutual benefit does not necessarily si#nal i#norance or irrationality or even malevolence! as philosophers since Hobbes have underscored. Hume's farmers were not dumb! or cra*y! or evil+ they were trapped. ,ocial scientists have lately analy*ed this fundamental predicament in a variety of #uises the tra#edy of the commons+ the lo#ic of collective action+ public #oods+ the prisoners' dilemma. In all these situations! as in Hume's rustic anecdote! everyone would be better off if everyone could cooperate. In the absence of coordination and credible mutual commitment! however! everyone defects! ruefully but rationally! confirmin# one another's melancholy e-pectations. How can such dilemmas of collective action be overcome! short of creatin# some Hobbesian .eviathan/ ,ocial scientists in several disciplines have recently su##ested a novel dia#nosis of this problem! a dia#nosis restin# on the concept of social capital. By analo#y with notions of physical capital and human capital--tools and trainin# that enhance individual productivity--0social capital0 refers to features of social or#ani*ation! such as networ%s! norms! and trust! that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit. ,ocial capital enhances the benefits of investment in physical and human capital. $or%in# to#ether is easier in a community blessed with a substantial stoc% of social capital. This insi#ht turns out to have powerful practical implications for many issues on

the "merican national a#enda--for how we mi#ht overcome the poverty and violence of ,outh 1entral .os "n#eles! or revitali*e industry in the Rust Belt! or nurture the fled#lin# democracies of the former ,oviet empire and the erstwhile Third $orld. Before spellin# out these implications! however! let me illustrate the importance of social capital by recountin# an investi#ation that several collea#ues and I have conducted over the last two decades on the seemin#ly arcane sub(ect of re#ional #overnment in Italy. LESSONS FROM AN ITALIAN EXPERIMENT Be#innin# in 2345! Italians established a nationwide set of potentially powerful re#ional #overnments. These 65 new institutions were virtually identical in form! but the social! economic! political! and cultural conte-ts in which they were implanted differed dramatically! ran#in# from the preindustrial to the postindustrial! from the devoutly 1atholic to the ardently 1ommunist! from the inertly feudal to the frenetically modern. 7ust as a botanist mi#ht investi#ate plant development by measurin# the #rowth of #enetically identical seeds sown in different plots! we sou#ht to understand #overnment performance by studyin# how these new institutions evolved in their diverse settin#s. "s we e-pected! some of the new #overnments proved to be dismal failures--inefficient! lethar#ic! and corrupt. 8thers have been remar%ably successful! however! creatin# innovative day care pro#rams and (ob-trainin# centers! promotin# investment and economic development! pioneerin# environmental standards and family clinics-mana#in# the public's business efficiently and satisfyin# their constituents. $hat could account for these star% differences in 9uality of #overnment/ ,ome seemin#ly obvious answers turned out to be irrelevant. &overnment or#ani*ation is too similar from re#ion to re#ion for that to e-plain the contrasts in performance. Party politics or ideolo#y ma%es little difference. "ffluence and prosperity have no direct effect. ,ocial stability or political harmony or population movements are not the %ey. :one of these factors is correlated with #ood #overnment as we had anticipated. Instead! the best predictor is one that "le-is de Toc9ueville mi#ht have e-pected. ,tron# traditions of civic en#a#ement--voter turnout! newspaper readership! membership in choral societies and literary circles! .ions 1lubs! and soccer clubs--are the hallmar%s of a successful re#ion. ,ome re#ions of Italy! such as ;milia-Roma#na and Tuscany! have many active community or#ani*ations. 1iti*ens in these re#ions are en#a#ed by public issues! not by patrona#e. They trust one another to act fairly and obey the law. .eaders in these communities are relatively honest and committed to e9uality. ,ocial and political networ%s are or#ani*ed hori*ontally! not hierarchically. These 0civic communities0 value solidarity! civic participation! and inte#rity. "nd here democracy wor%s. "t the other pole are 0uncivic0 re#ions! li%e 1alabria and ,icily! aptly characteri*ed by the )rench term incivisme. The very concept of citi*enship is stunted there. ;n#a#ement in social and cultural associations is mea#er. )rom the point of view of the inhabitants! public affairs is somebody else's business--i notabili! 0the bosses!0 0the politicians0--but not theirs. .aws! almost everyone a#rees! are made to be bro%en! but fearin# others' lawlessness! everyone demands sterner discipline. Trapped in these interloc%in# vicious circles! nearly everyone feels powerless! e-ploited! and unhappy. It is hardly surprisin# that representative #overnment here is less effective than in more civic communities.

The historical roots of the civic community are astonishin#ly deep. ;ndurin# traditions of civic involvement and social solidarity can be traced bac% nearly a millennium to the eleventh century! when communal republics were established in places li%e )lorence! Bolo#na! and &enoa! e-actly the communities that today en(oy civic en#a#ement and successful #overnment. "t the core of this civic herita#e are rich networ%s of or#ani*ed reciprocity and civic solidarity--#uilds! reli#ious fraternities! and tower societies for selfdefense in the medieval communes+ cooperatives! mutual aid societies! nei#hborhood associations! and choral societies in the twentieth century. These communities did not become civic simply because they were rich. The historical record stron#ly su##ests precisely the opposite They have become rich because they were civic. The social capital embodied in norms and networ%s of civic en#a#ement seems to be a precondition for economic development! as well as for effective #overnment. Development economists ta%e note 1ivics matters. How does social capital under#ird #ood #overnment and economic pro#ress/ )irst! networ%s of civic en#a#ement foster sturdy norms of #enerali*ed reciprocity I'll do this for you now! in the e-pectation that down the road you or someone else will return the favor. 0,ocial capital is a%in to what Tom $olfe called the <favor ban%' in his novel! The !onfire of the "anities!0 notes economist Robert )ran%. " society that relies on #enerali*ed reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful society! for the same reason that money is more efficient than barter. Trust lubricates social life. :etwor%s of civic en#a#ement also facilitate coordination and communication and amplify information about the trustworthiness of other individuals. ,tudents of prisoners' dilemmas and related #ames report that cooperation is most easily sustained throu#h repeat play. $hen economic and political dealin# is embedded in dense networ%s of social interaction! incentives for opportunism and malfeasance are reduced. This is why the diamond trade! with its e-treme possibilities for fraud! is concentrated within close%nit ethnic enclaves. Dense social ties facilitate #ossip and other valuable ways of cultivatin# reputation--an essential foundation for trust in a comple- society. )inally! networ%s of civic en#a#ement embody past success at collaboration! which can serve as a cultural template for future collaboration. The civic traditions of north-central Italy provide a historical repertoire of forms of cooperation that! havin# proved their worth in the past! are available to citi*ens for addressin# new problems of collective action. ,ociolo#ist 7ames 1oleman concludes! 0.i%e other forms of capital! social capital is productive! ma%in# possible the achievement of certain ends that would not be attainable in its absence. . . . In a farmin# community. . . where one farmer #ot his hay baled by another and where farm tools are e-tensively borrowed and lent! the social capital allows each farmer to #et his wor% done with less physical capital in the form of tools and e9uipment.0 ,ocial capital! in short! enables Hume's farmers to surmount their dilemma of collective action. ,toc%s of social capital! such as trust! norms! and networ%s! tend to be self-reinforcin# and cumulative. ,uccessful collaboration in one endeavor builds connections and trust-social assets that facilitate future collaboration in other! unrelated tas%s. "s with conventional capital! those who have social capital tend to accumulate more--them as has! #ets. ,ocial capital is what the social philosopher "lbert 8. Hirschman calls a 0moral

resource!0 that is! a resource whose supply increases rather than decreases throu#h use and which =unli%e physical capital> becomes depleted if not used. ?nli%e conventional capital! social capital is a 0public #ood!0 that is! it is not the private property of those who benefit from it. .i%e other public #oods! from clean air to safe streets! social capital tends to be under-provided by private a#ents. This means that social capital must often be a by-product of other social activities. ,ocial capital typically consists in ties! norms! and trust transferable from one social settin# to another. 'embers of )lorentine choral societies participate because they li%e to sin#! not because their participation stren#thens the Tuscan social fabric. But it does. SOCIAL CAPITAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ,ocial capital is comin# to be seen as a vital in#redient in economic development around the world. ,cores of studies of rural development have shown that a vi#orous networ% of indi#enous #rassroots associations can be as essential to #rowth as physical investment! appropriate technolo#y! or =that nostrum of neoclassical economists> 0#ettin# prices ri#ht.0 Political scientist ;linor 8strom has e-plored why some cooperative efforts to mana#e common pool resources! li%e #ra*in# #rounds and water supplies! succeed! while others fail. ;-istin# stoc%s of social capital are an important part of the story. 1onversely! #overnment interventions that ne#lect or undermine this social infrastructure can #o seriously awry. ,tudies of the rapidly #rowin# economies of ;ast "sia almost always emphasi*e the importance of dense social networ%s! so that these economies are sometimes said to represent a new brand of 0networ% capitalism.0 These networ%s! often based on the e-tended family or on close-%nit ethnic communities li%e the overseas 1hinese! foster trust! lower transaction costs! and speed information and innovation. ,ocial capital can be transmuted! so to spea%! into financial capital In novelist "my Tan's #oy $uck %lub! a #roup of mah-(on#-playin# friends evolves into a (oint investment association. 1hina's e-traordinary economic #rowth over the last decade has depended less on formal institutions than on guanxi =personal connections> to underpin contracts and to channel savin#s and investment. ,ocial capital! we are discoverin#! is also important in the development of advanced $estern economies. ;conomic sociolo#ist 'ar% &ranovetter has pointed out that economic transactions li%e contractin# or (ob searches are more efficient when they are embedded in social networ%s. It is no accident that one of the pervasive strata#ems of ambitious yuppies is 0networ%in#.0 ,tudies of hi#hly efficient! hi#hly fle-ible 0industrial districts0 =a term coined by "lfred 'arshall! one of the founders of modern economics> emphasi*e networ%s of collaboration amon# wor%ers and small entrepreneurs. ,uch concentrations of social capital! far from bein# paleo-industrial anachronisms! fuel ultramodern industries from the hi#h tech of ,ilicon @alley to the hi#h fashion of Benetton. ;ven in mainstream economics the so-called 0new #rowth theory0 pays more attention to social structure =the 0e-ternalities of human capital0> than do conventional neoclassical models. Robert .ucas! a founder of 0rational e-pectations0 economics! ac%nowled#es that 0human capital accumulation is a fundamentally social activity! involvin# groups of people in a way that has no counterpart in the accumulation of physical capital.0

The social capital approach can help us formulate new strate#ies for development. )or e-ample! current proposals for stren#thenin# mar%et economies and democratic institutions in the formerly 1ommunist lands of ;urasia center almost e-clusively on deficiencies in financial and human capital =thus callin# for loans and technical assistance>. However! the deficiencies in social capital in these countries are at least as alarmin#. $here are the efforts to encoura#e 0social capital formation0/ ;-portin# PT"s or Aiwanis clubs may seem a bit far-fetched! but how about patiently reconstructin# those shards of indi#enous civic associations that have survived decades of totalitarian rule. Historian ,. )rederic% ,tarr! for e-ample! has drawn attention to important fra#ments of civil society--from philanthropic a#encies to chess clubs--that persist from Russia's 0usable past.0 =,uch community associations provide especially valuable social capital when they cross ethnic or other cleava#e lines.> 1loser to home! Bill 1linton's proposals for (ob-trainin# schemes and industrial e-tension a#encies invite attention to social capital. The ob(ective should not be merely an assembly-line in(ection of booster shots of technical e-pertise and wor%-related s%ills into individual firms and wor%ers. Rather! such pro#rams could provide a matchless opportunity to create productive new lin%a#es amon# community #roups! schools! employers! and wor%ers! without creatin# costly new bureaucracies. $hy not e-periment with modest subsidies for trainin# pro#rams that brin# to#ether firms! educational institutions! and community associations in innovative local partnerships/ The latent effects of such pro#rams on social capital accumulation could prove even more powerful than the direct effects on technical productivity. 1onversely! when considerin# the effects of economic reconversion on communities! we must wei#h the ris%s of destroyin# social capital. Precisely because social capital is a public #ood! the costs of closin# factories and destroyin# communities #o beyond the personal trauma borne by individuals. $orse yet! some #overnment pro#rams themselves! such as urban renewal and public housin# pro(ects! have heedlessly rava#ed e-istin# social networ%s. The fact that these collective costs are not well measured by our current accountin# schemes does not mean that they are not real. ,hred enou#h of the social fabric and we all pay. SOCIAL CAPITAL AND AMERICA'S ILLS )ifty-one deaths and B2 billion dollars in property dama#e in .os "n#eles last year put urban decay bac% on the "merican a#enda. Cet if the ills are clear! the prescription is not. ;ven those most sympathetic to the pli#ht of "merica's #hettos are not persuaded that simply revivin# the social pro#rams dismantled in the last decade or so will solve the problems. The erosion of social capital is an essential and under-appreciated part of the dia#nosis. "lthou#h most poor "mericans do not reside in the inner city! there is somethin# 9ualitatively different about the social and economic isolation e-perienced by the chronically poor blac%s and .atinos who do. 7oblessness! inade9uate education! and poor health clearly truncate the opportunities of #hetto residents. Cet so do profound deficiencies in social capital. Part of the problem facin# blac%s and .atinos in the inner city is that they lac% 0connections0 in the most literal sense. 7ob-see%ers in the #hetto have little access! for

e-ample! to conventional (ob referral networ%s. .abor economists "nne 1ase and .awrence Aat* have shown that! re#ardless of race! inner-city youth livin# in nei#hborhoods blessed with hi#h levels of civic en#a#ement are more li%ely to finish school! have a (ob! and avoid dru#s and crime! controllin# for the individual characteristics of the youth. That is! of two identical youths! the one unfortunate enou#h to live in a nei#hborhood whose social capital has eroded is more li%ely to end up hoo%ed! boo%ed! or dead. ,everal researchers seem to have found similar nei#hborhood effects on the incidence of teen pre#nancy! amon# both blac%s and whites! a#ain controllin# for personal characteristics. $here you live and whom you %now--the social capital you can draw on--helps to define who you are and thus to determine your fate. Racial and class ine9ualities in access to social capital! if properly measured! may be as #reat as ine9ualities in financial and human capital! and no less portentous. ;conomist &lenn .oury has used the term 0social capital0 to capture the fundamental fact that racial se#re#ation! coupled with socially inherited differences in community networ%s and norms! means that individually tar#eted 0e9ual opportunity0 policies may not eliminate racial ine9uality! even in the lon# run. Research su##ests that the life chances of today's #eneration depend not only on their parents' social resources! but also on the social resources of their parents' ethnic #roup. ;ven wor%place inte#ration and upward mobility by successful members of minority #roups cannot overcome these persistent effects of ine9ualities in social capital. $illiam 7ulius $ilson has described in tra#ic detail how the e-odus of middle-class and wor%in#-class families from the #hetto has eroded the social capital available to those left behind. The settlement houses that nurtured sewin# clubs and civic activism a century a#o! embodyin# community as much as charity! are now mostly derelict. It would be a dreadful mista%e! of course! to overloo% the repositories of social capital within "merica's minority communities. The nei#hborhood restaurant eponymously portrayed in 'itchell Duneier's recent &lim's Table! for e-ample! nurtures fellowship and intercourse that enable blac%s =and whites> in 1hica#o's ,outh ,ide to sustain a modicum of collective life. Historically! the blac% church has been the most bounteous treasurehouse of social capital for "frican "mericans. The church provided the or#ani*ational infrastructure for political mobili*ation in the civil ri#hts movement. Recent wor% on "merican political participation by political scientist ,idney @erba and his collea#ues shows that the church is a uni9uely powerful resource for political en#a#ement amon# blac%s--an arena in which to learn about public affairs and hone political s%ills and ma%e connections. In tac%lin# the ills of "mericas cities! investments in physical capital! financial capital! human capital! and social capital are complementary! not competin# alternatives. Investments in (obs and education! for e-ample! will be more effective if they are coupled with reinvi#oration of community associations. ,ome churches provide (ob ban%s and serve as informal credit bureaus! for e-ample! usin# their reputational capital to vouch for members who may be e--convicts! former dru# addicts! or hi#h school dropouts. In such cases the church does not merely provide referral networ%s. 'ore fundamentally! wary employers and financial institutions ban% on the church's ability to identify parishioners whose formal credentials understate their reliability. "t the same time! because these parishioners value their standin# in the church! and because the church has put its own reputation on the line! they have an

additional incentive to perform. .i%e conventional capital for conventional borrowers! social capital serves as a %ind of collateral for men and women who are e-cluded from ordinary credit or labor mar%ets. In effect! the participants pled#e their social connections! levera#in# social capital to improve the efficiency with which mar%ets operate. The importance of social capital for "merica's domestic a#enda is not limited to minority communities. Ta%e public education! for instance. The success of private schools is attributable! accordin# to 7ames 1oleman's massive research! not so much to what happens in the classroom nor to the endowments of individual students! but rather to the #reater en#a#ement of parents and community members in private school activities. ;ducational reformers li%e child psycholo#ist 7ames 1omer see% to improve schoolin# not merely by 0treatin#0 individual children but by deliberately involvin# parents and others in the educational process. ;ducational policyma%ers need to move beyond debates about curriculum and #overnance to consider the effects of social capital. Indeed! most commonly discussed proposals for 0choice0 are deeply flawed by their profoundly individualist conception of education. If states and localities are to e-periment with voucher systems for education or child care! why not encoura#e vouchers to be spent in ways that stren#then community or#ani*ation! not wea%en it/ 8nce we reco#ni*e the importance of social capital! we ou#ht to be able to desi#n pro#rams that creatively combine individual choice with collective en#a#ement. 'any people today are concerned about revitali*in# "merican democracy. "lthou#h discussion of political reform in the ?nited ,tates focuses nowadays on such procedural issues as term limits and campai#n financin#! some of the ills that afflict the "merican polity reflect deeper! lar#ely unnoticed social chan#es. 0,ome people say that you usually can trust people. 8thers say that you must be wary in relations with people. $hich is your view/0 Responses to this 9uestion! posed repeatedly in national surveys for several decades! su##est that social trust in the ?nited ,tates has declined for more than a 9uarter century. By contrast! "merican politics benefited from plentiful stoc%s of social capital in earlier times. Recent historical wor% on the Pro#ressive ;ra! for e-ample! has uncovered evidence of the powerful role played by nominally non-political associations =such as women's literary societies> precisely because they provided a dense social networ%. Is our current predicament the result of a lon#-term erosion of social capital! such as community en#a#ement and social trust/ ;conomist 7uliet ,chorr's discovery of 0the une-pected decline of leisure0 in "merica su##ests that our #eneration is less en#a#ed with one another outside the mar%etplace and thus less prepared to cooperate for shared #oals. 'obile! two-career =or one-parent> families often must use the mar%et for child care and other services formerly provided throu#h family and nei#hborhood networ%s. ;ven if mar%et-based services! considered individually! are of hi#h 9uality! this deeper social trend is erodin# social capital. There are more empty seats at the PT" and in church pews these days. $hile celebratin# the productive! liberatin# effects of fuller e9uality in the wor%place! we must replace the social capital that this movement has depleted. 8ur political parties! once intimately coupled to the capillaries of community life! have become evanescent confections of pollsters and media consultants and independent political entrepreneurs--the very antithesis of social capital. $e have too easily accepted a conception of democracy in which public policy is not the outcome of a collective

deliberation about the public interest! but rather a residue of campai#n strate#y. The social capital approach! focusin# on the indirect effects of civic norms and networ%s! is a much-needed corrective to an e-clusive emphasis on the formal institutions of #overnment as an e-planation for our collective discontents. If we are to ma%e our political system more responsive! especially to those who lac% connections at the top! we must nourish #rass-roots or#ani*ation. 1lassic liberal social policy is desi#ned to enhance the opportunities of individuals! but if social capital is important! this emphasis is partially misplaced. Instead we must focus on community development! allowin# space for reli#ious or#ani*ations and choral societies and .ittle .ea#ues that may seem to have little to do with politics or economics. &overnment policies! whatever their intended effects! should be vetted for their indirect effects on social capital. If! as some suspect! social capital is fostered more by home ownership than by public or private tenancy! then we should desi#n housin# policy accordin#ly. ,imilarly! as Theda ,%ocpol has su##ested! the direct benefits of national service pro#rams mi#ht be dwarfed by the indirect benefits that could flow from the creation of social networ%s that cross class and racial lines. In any comprehensive strate#y for improvin# the pli#ht of "merica's communities! rebuildin# social capital is as important as investin# in human and physical capital. Throu#hout the Bush administration! community self-reliance--0a thousand points of li#ht0--too often served as an ideolo#ical fi# leaf for an administration that used the thinness of our public wallet as an alibi for a lac% of political will. 1onservatives are ri#ht to emphasi*e the value of intermediary associations! but they misunderstand the potential syner#y between private or#ani*ation and the #overnment. &ocial capital is not a substitute for effective public policy but rather a prere'uisite for it and, in part, a conse'uence of it. ,ocial capital! as our Italian study su##ests! wor%s throu#h and with states and mar%ets! not in place of them. The social capital approach is neither an ar#ument for cultural determinism nor an e-cuse to blame the victim. $ise policy can encoura#e social capital formation! and social capital itself enhances the effectiveness of #overnment action. )rom a#ricultural e-tension services in the last century to ta- e-emptions for community or#ani*ations in this one! "merican #overnment has often promoted investments in social capital! and it must renew that effort now. " new administration that is! at lon# last! more willin# to use public power and the public purse for public purpose should not overloo% the importance of social connectedness as a vital bac%drop for effective policy. ,tudents of social capital have only be#un to address some of the most important 9uestions that this approach to public affairs su##ests. $hat are the actual trends in different forms of civic en#a#ement/ $hy do communities differ in their stoc%s of social capital/ $hat kinds of civic en#a#ement seem most li%ely to foster economic #rowth or community effectiveness/ 'ust specific types of social capital be matched to different public problems/ 'ost important of all! how is social capital created and destroyed/ $hat strate#ies for buildin# =or rebuildin#> social capital are most promisin#/ How can we balance the twin strate#ies of e-ploitin# e-istin# social capital and creatin# it afresh/ The su##estions scattered throu#hout this essay are intended to challen#e others to even more practical methods of encoura#in# new social capital formation and levera#in# what we have already.

$e also need to as% about the ne#ative effects of social capital! for li%e human and physical capital! social capital can be put to bad purposes. .iberals have often sou#ht to destroy some forms of social capital =from medieval #uilds to nei#hborhood schools> in the name of individual opportunity. $e have not always rec%oned with the indirect social costs of our policies! but we were often ri#ht to be worried about the power of private associations. ,ocial ine9ualities may be embedded in social capital. :orms and networ%s that serve some #roups may obstruct others! particularly if the norms are discriminatory or the networ%s socially se#re#ated. Reco#ni*in# the importance of social capital in sustainin# community life does not e-empt us from the need to worry about how that community is defined--who is inside and thus benefits from social capital! and who is outside and does not. ,ome forms of social capital can impair individual liberties! as critics of comunitarianism warn. 'any of the )ounders' fears about the 0mischiefs of faction0 apply to social capital. Before totin# up the balance sheet for social capital in its various forms! we need to wei#h costs as well as benefits. This challen#e still awaits. Pro#ress on the ur#ent issues facin# our country and our world re9uires ideas that brid#e outdated ideolo#ical divides. Both liberals and conservatives a#ree on the importance of social empowerment! as ;. 7. Dionne recently noted =0The Duest for 1ommunity ="#ain>!0 T()! ,ummer 2336>. The social capital approach provides a deeper conceptual underpinnin# for this nominal conver#ence. Real pro#ress re9uires not facile verbal a#reement! but hard thou#ht and ideas with hi#h fiber content. The social capital approach promises to uncover new ways of combinin# private social infrastructure with public policies that wor%! and! in turn! of usin# wise public policies to revitali*e "merica's stoc%s of social capital. Robert D. Putnam 1opyri#ht E 233F by The (merican )rospect, Inc. Preferred 1itation Robert D. Putnam! 0The Prosperous 1ommunity!0 The (merican )rospect vol. G no. 2F! 'arch 62! 233F . This article may not be resold! reprinted! or redistributed for compensation of any %ind without prior written permission from the author. Direct 9uestions about permissions to permissionsHprospect.or#.