Social Cohesion for Economic Growth

Abstract

The lack of social cohesion also makes a society more vulnerable to social conflicts, violence and separatist movements. For instance, Foa (2011) compares the social cohesion index calculated for 1990 with the duration of and the number of casualties in civil conflicts between 1991 and 2008. Accordingly, a 1 unit decrease in social cohesion corresponds to a rise of 4.5 years in the average duration of conflicts and a respective increase in the number of casualties. In sum, when civil conflict starts, its duration and ferocity are determined by the social cohesion and resistance at the time of the conflict. Academic research has proven the negative impact of social conflicts, terrorism and class struggles on capital formation and economic growth. Violence among groups tends to destroy a country’s physical and human capital, leads to brain drain and alienates foreign investment. Collier (1999) estimates the economic cost of one year of civil war as an average loss of 2.2 % in growth. Therefore social cohesion, which shortens the resilience process during civil conflicts, is important to prevent the destruction of social capital.