The role and importance of social capital for poverty alleviation: Chosen countries

Social capital is seen as the most dynamic element in the mutual interaction between poverty alleviation and social development. social capital; It has a very important role for fight against poverty, thanks to its ability to mobilize resources in the development of society and to prevent all resources, opportunities and potentials from being idle in the poor. Social capital was declared by the World Bank as the missing link in development and the capital of the poor in the 1990s. When the social capital data of selected countries are compared using the World Bank country income group classification and World Values Survey data, it is understood that countries with high social capital levels have high national income per capita and low poverty rates. RE findings from econometric analysis indicate that all variables have a positive effect on GDP per capita for the 2012-2019 period in 12 selected countries. When the social capital variable increases by 1%, GDP per capita increases by 0.423577%. Representing human capital, when domestic patent applications increase by 1 unit, GDP per capita increases by %0.3475233. When the physical capital variable increases by 1%, GDP per capita increases by 0.3333536%. Social capital coefficient gives the biggest positive effect on GDP per capita compared to other types of capitals. Therefore it is important for developing countries to implement measures to increase their social capital levels (specially bridging and linking social capital) in their development policies. Key words: Social capital, poverty alleviation, trust, panel, POLS.