Abstract
From tools and approaches of different disciplines, we propose an economic study of individual social capital to reveal the economic and behavioral stakes of the introduction of the concept in economic models. We define it as an interactionnal cooperative potential, ie a set of resources which enables agents to access the resources of their partners. From an investigation of the description of the link, we show that it is a form of capital since it is subject to an accumulation, a production and a depreciation. It enables or facilitates interpersonal resources' transfers including reducing transaction costs which involved. We also show that it can be a transfer in mediatized relationship resource and particularly in the case of intergenerational relationships into families. Descendant transfers of parental social capital to child and the stock of initial social capital available to it at its birth, enables accumulate more social capital and unrelate to have some socioeconomic benefits. By transferring their own social capital, parents ensure the well being of their children and accumulate related debts, which they can mobilize at the end of their life to benefit from ascendant intergenerational "transfers of time". Our investigation must be understood as a tool to comprehend what happens in a relationship between two agents and the exchanges they allow. Applied to intergenerational relations, we are laying the ties and conceptualization of social capital as a tool to understand relations, transfers and heritage of the agent.