Research on social capital and regional development in China: what has been done so far and what should be done in future

The relationship between economic factors and regional development in China has been extensively studied in the last two decades. Little attention has been paid to how social factors (for example social capital) are related to regional development. This chapter reviews 37 works of literature concerning social capital and regional development in China and has found several drawbacks in previous studies. The positive impact of social capital is not that obvious currently due to China’s cultural and institutional context.