Social, creative, human, and political capital effects on sustainability initiatives in Kansas counties: a research note

Abstract

In a small sample effects analysis of 22 Kansas counties, this research note reports the results of a pilot study of the role of social, creative, human, and political capital in the centrality of environmental and equity concerns in sustainability efforts. Social capital is measured by the relative presence of rent-seeking and non-rent-seeking networks in each county, creative capital by a measure of county creative vitality, human capital by the socio-economic status (SES) level of the county, and political capital by relative support for the Democrat candidate for governor in the most recent election. The level of racial/ethnic diversity and the Gini index of household income inequality are employed as controls. The results show that political capital has the greatest, but not the only, independent effect on the centrality of the two sustainability dimensions, particularly in regard to equity.

Keywords:

• sustainability
• equity
• environment
• social capital
• creative capital
• human capital
• political capital

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the advice and assistance of Professor John Anderson of the University of Nebraska at Kearney and Professor Nicholas Lovrich of Washington State University at Pullman. Neither Professor Anderson nor Professor Lovrich bear any responsibility for the content of this article.