Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 July 2015
In the past decade there has been a resurgence of studies in the social sciences that emphasize the role of “the social” in market exchange and economic development. This is a welcome change from the “asocial” homo economicus of neoclassical theory and finds various expressions, most notable among them being studies on social capital, trust, and networks. Simplified, the argument is that men and women do not enter into economic transactions in a social vacuum; rather, their community ties, their face-to-face relations, and their networks of such relations facilitate gainful exchange and may ultimately contribute to successful economic development in a country or region.