Il Capitale Sociale in Albania (Il caso di Tirana)

Social Capital is one of the most attractive and disputed concept of the last two decades. The role it plays in economic development of regions and growing of its influence in the accountability of politics toward its citizens is the motive of this research. The main purpose of this study is to measure the level of social capital, focusing the attention in Tirana the capital of Albania. An overview of the role of social capital in the economy and the influence played by central government and local governance for its creation is given. To measure social capital is used the data set of Living Standard Measurement Survey 2008 of the Albanian National Institute of Statistics. From which were taken two variable one for participation in the networks of civic engagement and the other on trust only for Tirana. From the data analysis it results that in Tirana exists a low level of participation in networks of civic engagement and also a low level of trust. From the analysis made to understand the influence of participation in the networks of civic engagement the trust level referring to Robert Putman's theory results a negative correlation between the two variables. The empirical findings appear to the conclusion that social capital in Tirana is low, and we must make efforts to build it in order to get the positive outcomes it has.