從1994年到2007年之間，行政院推動了一連串的社區營造計畫，希望達到激發區民參與公共事務的目的。行政院的計畫，頗為符合Putnam「社會資本」理論的命題：(1)「互報」的規範令社區成員產生互信；(2)而由各種公民倫理（含互信）組成的關係網絡是現代社會振興其民主制度的主要資源。本文就是要以兩個結社型態迥異的城（北投）鄉（林邊）社區，執行各種社造子計畫的對照故事，測試Putnam的命題。我們的研究發現，北投與林邊的事例，基本上支持Putnam的第(2)命題；卻質疑Putnam的第(1)命題，因為我們無法支持他的說明，即認為只有一般互報規範，而非其他種互報規範，才能產生社區中的互信。

A series of Community Empowering Projects (CEP) were implemented by the Executive Yuan between 1994 and 2007 with the purpose to increase community members' involvement in public affairs. The projects concur with the propositions deduced from the theory of social capital: (1) that the norm of reciprocity creates mutual trust among community members, and (2) that social capital made of such trust improves democracy in the community. By contrasting the experience of joining CEPs, between a rural and an urban community, we have found that our case supports the second element, however throws doubt on the first because of the failure to support the distinction that only the norm of general reciprocity, not direct or balanced reciprocity, can generate communal trust.