TAHAP DAN PENENTU INDEKS MODAL SOSIAL DI MALAYSIA.

Social capital is one of the important elements to reduce the incidence of poverty because of its ability to influence an individual's or household's income of a country. Nevertheless, past studies that examine social capital issue are rather lacking especially in Malaysia. This study aims to identify the level and determinants of social capital index in Malaysia based on 2,443 heads of households' data collected in 2012 in five states in Peninsular Malaysia; Kedah, Selangor, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Terengganu. The analysis involves two steps; computing social capital index and estimating regression models to identify the determinants of social capital index. The study finds that 72.9% of heads of households are having moderate and high social capital index of 0.5 and above. The percentage of heads of households with higher social capital index is higher in Selangor compared to other states. Further, the study demonstrates that the significant determinants of social capital index are marital status, location, states, and household income. The findings from the study imply that Malaysia must implement programmes that can raise an individual's or household's income in order to increase their level of social capital index, which subsequently will improve Malaysia's level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]