Social capital among agricultural producers in the Czech Republic: its impact on economic performance

Abstract

The change of the political regime from the socialist central planning system to a market economy and pluralistic society required the reorganisation not only of agricultural production, but also of the organisations in their support. In the Czech Republic, agricultural production is characterised by a dualistic structure in these days, i.e. private farmers on the one side and corporate farms on the other. However, among both groups some had been economically more successful than others. In general, a varying adoption of production factors, i.e. land, labour and capital is identified as being of influence. Whether their ability to collaborate with other farms is an additional factor, which has been discussed under the concept of social capital since quite some time, will be analysed in this paper. Based on the findings of a survey among a sample of 62 farms by adopting factor and multiple regression analysis it can be deduced that social capital is indeed a significant factor determining the level of farm income.