Social Capital, Household Welfare and Poverty in Burkina Faso

This paper investigates empirically the importance of social capital, in the form of local associations and networks, for the welfare of rural households in Burkina Faso. It draws on a unique database combining standard information on household welfare with multidimensional measures of social capital. The analysis finds that higher levels of social capital are associated with higher household per capita expenditures and better access to credit. The distribution of social capital was found to be more equal than that of other assets. Poor households and those who own little land obtain a higher return from social capital than other households.