Social Capital and Support for the Welfare State in Russia

Post-Soviet Affairs. 2017. Vol. 33. No. 5. P. 411–429.

Borisova E., Govorun A. V., Ivanov D.

Few tasks are more important in the post-communist setting than rebuilding the welfare state. We study individual preferences for increasing social welfare spending to reduce inequality. Using two surveys of about 34,000 and 37,000 Russians we show great importance of the bridging type of social capital for redistribution preferences in Russia as it precludes possibilities of cheating and free-riding. Instrumenting social capital with education, climate and distance from Moscow we deal with endogeneity concerns and also contribute to the understanding of the deep roots of social capital in Russia. We also claim that social capital in post-socialist countries could help mobilize public support for the redistribution schemes in spite of the fact that institutions are weak

Keywords: социальный капитал, коррупция, Россия, доверие, social capital, Russia, inequality, trust, corruption, неравенство, запрос на перераспределение, preferences for redistribution, bridging social capital, открытый социальный капитал

Publication based on the results of: Political Economy of Development: Historical and Contemporary Factors (2017)