Bridging social capital and economic well-being: a bibliometric analysis of global and Japanese perspectives

Social capital has gained increasing attention in economics as scholars seek to understand how networks, trust, and community cohesion shape broader measures of economic well-being. This study examines the evolving role of social capital in enhancing economic well-being by using a comparative analysis of global and Japanese research trends. Based on bibliometric and text analyses, this study examined 1825 articles on social capital in economics published from 2000 to 2023, specifically assessing the publication and citation patterns on the Web of Science database. The results showed a swift global surge in social capital investigations across a range of disciplines, including environmental studies, development, and urban planning. This underscores their multifaceted applications. Conversely, Japanese studies have focused on disaster resilience and urban planning, exhibiting a comparatively modest growth in publications and citations. Word cloud visualizations further demonstrated that, while global studies emphasize broad socioeconomic themes, such as trust and innovation, Japanese studies focus on specific challenges, including disaster management and community well-being. These insights highlight the potential of social capital to improve economic welfare, especially for marginalized groups, and also suggest that Japanese research could benefit from greater interdisciplinary and international integration. Future studies should deepen the understanding of the influence of social capital on diverse populations and explore its application in comprehensive economic well-being policies.