Community Capital and Local Economic Development Efforts

Abstract

Actions by local groups and leaders constitute an essential but poorly understood element of many rural economic development efforts. Previous studies suggest that local development efforts can influence community changes, but questions remain about why localities differ in economic development efforts. Drawing upon community capital framework and human ecological theory, the purpose of this research was to examine the effects of community capital on economic development efforts in rural communities. Hierarchical regression results indicate that social capital, cultural capital, built capital significantly predict economic development effort to develop recreation and tourism and human services. Despite that, only built capital and natural capital predict effort to develop local business and industry – a keystone of rural development. Hypothesis that community capitals would predict economic development efforts than would be predicted by ecological variables alone was borne out.