Eminent contributors, including Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom, explore the different scientific approaches required if international research is to embrace both the bright and the more shadowy aspects of social capital. The stresses the importance of trust for economies all over the world and contains a strong advocacy for cross-disciplinary work within the social sciences. Social capital is becoming one of the most important and hotly discussed topics of today. This inter-disciplinary intends to serve as a bridge for students and scholars across the social sciences.