Published : 2009-06-30

Social Capital and the Global Financial Crisis at the Beginning of the XXI Century

Jan Szambelańczyk



Abstract

The article describes the spectrum of causes of the global financial crisis with particular emphasis on social capital as a factor of this crisis and some of its consequences. The turn of millennium is characterized by an unprecedented financial turnover dynamics, especially those for which there is no movement of material goods or services. On an unprecedented scale in the history grows the risk trade and the credit institutions increasingly resemble noble institutions in which discreet financial transactions are held, transforming into the network of supermarkets. Emergence of so-called "around-the-world, around-the-clock" financial markets where the main cross-border transactions are carried out in the blink of an eye - via cyberspace - represents not only economic but also complex aspect of the globalization. The expansion of globalization is also associated with both a-territoriality and the a-territoriality of the socio-economic and political space which emphasizes the importance of social capital in this process. In addition, that social capital has the characteristics of an informal institution, which constitutes the entrepreneurial potential of individual entities or groups, providing them with an access to the resources, through benefits from information sources. The discussions on crisis are dominated by the opinions of the need of fundamental change of the economic and regulatory policies across the world, primarily for financial markets. This creates an opportunity to reduce the gap between social and economic capital. Such an imbalance is an important crisis generating factor. Fluctuations due to the socalled "invisible hand of the market" could be generally less dissuasive, if not being radicalized by their "animal nature" contributing to the emerging speculative bubbles, with a strong legend - limiting investor's rationality - do not disappear early enough. The concept of social capital enables to interpret different aspects of the financial services market relations, especially considering transactional and image approach. As evidenced by studies, the category of a bank's pro client image, generalized as a bank's social image, is one of the basic conditions of public confidence in the banking system and the fundamental determinant of financial system stability. The specificity of the financial markets also raises on the agenda an issues of transnational and even global coordination of the markets, which like no other undergo the processes of globalization and can cause extensive impact on a global scale, using the privatization of "creation" of money. (original abstract)

Keywords:

Globalization, Social capital, Financial crisis, Economic bubble



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Szambelańczyk, J. (2009). Social Capital and the Global Financial Crisis at the Beginning of the XXI Century. Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Bankowej W Poznaniu, 23(23). Retrieved from https://journals.wsb.poznan.pl/index.php/znwsb/article/view/1850

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Uniwersytet WSB Merito w Poznaniu
ul. Powstańców Wielkopolskich 5
61-895 Poznań
e-mail: journals@poznan.merito.pl
University
Uniwersytet WSB Merito w Poznaniu / WSB Merito University
ul. Powstańców Wielkopolskich 5
61-895 Poznań

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