A simplified endogenous economic growth model with social capital: Evidence for Ecuador

The paper presents a simplified economic growth model with social capital, as an alternative for sustained long-term growth. The intuition behind the model suggests its application for developing economies that historically have focused their attention on the accumulation of physical capital and not on endogenous factors such as human capital and social capital. The model is considered as a Cobb-Douglas production function that includes three types of capital: physical, human and social. From the model, we obtain evidence from estimates for the Ecuadorian economy in the period 1980-2015, which underlie the main endogenous sources regarding physical capital. As a result, some policy implications are highlighted.