This paper presents and analyses statistical information relating to social capital in Australia and its regions. It also explores the relationship between social capital and the economic and social wellbeing of Australia's regions.

In Policy Research Paper 26, the authors explore the meaning and relevance of community and social capital drawing on a wide range of disciplines, in particular economics. The review suggests four key principles for measuring community strength and social capital: * distinguish between the structure (size, density) of community networks and their content (norms of...

Social capital is a contentious and multifaceted topic. A broad consensus has been reached, however, that norms such as trust, networks of association membership, and practices of volunteering and socialising are essential to its makeup. It is also increasingly recognised that such elements fall into two distinct types of social capital - bonding and bridging...

Boyd Hunter outlines the conceptual and empirical issues that affect the measurement of social capital, and discusses some possible roles for social capital in describing Indigenous poverty. He advocates a model of social capital that focuses on the structure of social networks to limit the scope for misunderstanding arising from cross-cultural differences in the views...

Social capital is a theoretically confusing concept, but one which nonetheless has much to offer as a potential measure of the strength of societies. It is in need of theoretical examination. This paper outlines the major theoretical aspects of social capital in relation to its three main component parts - values (such as trust), the...