The Economic Rationale for Social Cohesion –The Cross-Country Evidence

Abstract

While it is intuitive that conflict and poor social cohesion have great economic and social costs, it has been difficult to quantify such costs until recently. This paper estimates the economic benefits of greater social cohesion as well as the correlation between social cohesion and other aspects of development, using a set of social institutional measures covering over 200 indicators from 25 different data sources. The paper also uses these measures to identify case studies in building social cohesion, to which political and social leaders might refer when considering how to tackle social tensions.