Francesca Borgonovi, Elodie Andrieu Social scientists have long recognised that economic growth is not just a function of physical or human capital, but also of the ability of the population to collaborate and exchange knowledge. Places where people trust each other and form dense informal and formal networks can sometimes prosper and grow well beyond expectations. Putnam et al. (1993) classically explained differences in governance quality and prosperity between Northern and Southern Italy drawing on the stronger and sounder civic traditions of the North of the country. Later, Putnam argued that the erosion of social capital in the US represented a challenge for democracy and wellbeing (Putnam 2000). Various subsequent studies have shown that variations in social capital explain differences across regions (Beugelsdijk and Schaik 2005, (Storper 2013) and even in the spread of Covid-19 (Bartscher et al., 2020). It therefore comes as no surprise that the World Bank, the OECD and the EU are increasingly considering social capital as an important element in policies to promote growth.