Keystone sector methodology applied to Portugal
highlighting the social structure of those towns can shift the focus of investment criteria
and spillover effects would be better understood.
2. Theoretical considerations
In a world characterized by increasing speed of information and high capital
mobility it is important to understand at what extent the institutions created by man are
able to provide economic efficiency and social equity. In fact, despite increased factor
mobility and policy instruments regional disparities and labor market mismatches still
persist across regions.
Social capital theory can then be useful to provide additional explanation to this
phenomenon, once economic analysis has not showed satisfactory.
According to Sonis (2000) “the collective behavior is the subjective mental
evaluation of level utilities in the future, presenting sets of composite advantages”,
which have several socio-economic attributes and should be considered in different
time and spaces. Further on he argues that “... the meso-level variation principle of
collective choice behavior determines the balance between the resulting cumulative
social interactions among the population of adopters susceptible to the choice
alternatives”, which contribute to the equalization of the elite’s power in supporting
different alternative choices. This argument is presented within a framework of
innovation diffusion and collective choice, where a collective utility function does not
exist (at least is difficult to measure) when collective behavior does result from a
simple summation of individual choices. Each individual is a permanent learner in his
social environment and therefore does not decide according to rational choice theory.
His choice will depend on the subjective perception he has about his active
environment, which turns social interaction into a crucial issue.
Granovetter (1985) considers that “under and over socialized accounts are
paradoxically similar in their neglect of ongoing structures of social relations ”, which
means that “ economic action must consider its Embeddedness in such structures ”.
Individuals have their concrete personal relations (ego networks) and usually invest
more in those links they perceive to be providers of higher benefits. Considering the
actual speed of information flows, this choice has to rely upon trust they have on the
existent institutions. On the other hand, monopolies and big international enterprises
need these local connections in order to survive. To quote Granovetter (1985) again