Avner Ben-Ner - Böcker

This volume addresses the need to revisit the very economic theories that in the past two decades have contributed so much to the development of a concentrated research agenda on nonprofit organizations. Long neglected as a topic of theorizing and empirical investigation by mainstream economics in particular, these initial theories of nonprofit organizations, introduced by Burton Weisbrod (see Chapter 3 by Kingma and Chapter 4 by Slivinsky) and Henry Hansmann (see Chapter 5 by Ortmann and Schlesinger and Chapter 6 by Hansmann) and others in the late 1970sand early 1980s, continue to shape theoretical and conceptual efforts. Importantly, their influence extends beyond economics and informs sociological and political science approaches to the set of organizations and institutions located between the market firm and the state agency as well (see Chapter 10 by Wolpert, Chapter 11 by Salamon, and Chapter 12 by Wolch; also Anheier & Ben-Ner, 1997; DiMaggio & Anheier, 1990).While the theoretical map of nonprofit research has expanded beyond these early attempts and now includes several other major theories such as stakeholder approaches (Chapter I by Ben-Ner and Gui, and Chapter 7 by Krashinsky), supply-side or entrepreneurial theories (Chapter 8 by Badelt and Chapter 9 by Young), institutional theories (Chapter 17 by DiMaggio), and comparative approaches (Chapter 15 by Anheier; see also Salamon & Anheier, 1998), we nonethelesssuggest that it is time to takestockand reexamine some of the very basics from which these economic theories operate. This is the main purpose ofthe book.

This volume addresses the need to revisit the very economic theories that in the past two decades have contributed so much to the development of a concentrated research agenda on nonprofit organizations. Long neglected as a topic of theorizing and empirical investigation by mainstream economics in particular, these initial theories of nonprofit organizations, introduced by Burton Weisbrod (see Chapter 3 by Kingma and Chapter 4 by Slivinsky) and Henry Hansmann (see Chapter 5 by Ortmann and Schlesinger and Chapter 6 by Hansmann) and others in the late 1970sand early 1980s, continue to shape theoretical and conceptual efforts. Importantly, their influence extends beyond economics and informs sociological and political science approaches to the set of organizations and institutions located between the market firm and the state agency as well (see Chapter 10 by Wolpert, Chapter 11 by Salamon, and Chapter 12 by Wolch; also Anheier & Ben-Ner, 1997; DiMaggio & Anheier, 1990).While the theoretical map of nonprofit research has expanded beyond these early attempts and now includes several other major theories such as stakeholder approaches (Chapter I by Ben-Ner and Gui, and Chapter 7 by Krashinsky), supply-side or entrepreneurial theories (Chapter 8 by Badelt and Chapter 9 by Young), institutional theories (Chapter 17 by DiMaggio), and comparative approaches (Chapter 15 by Anheier; see also Salamon & Anheier, 1998), we nonethelesssuggest that it is time to takestockand reexamine some of the very basics from which these economic theories operate. This is the main purpose ofthe book.

In recent years, the number of scholars doing research and teaching on the nonprofit sector, the number of research and teaching centers dedicated to it, and the number of books and journals focusing on the topic of nonprofit organizations have all grown significantly. Nonetheless, this is the first book that explicitly recognizes and emphasizes the role and behavior of the nonprofit sector in the mixed economy. The book's twelve chapters present a picture of the nonprofit sector and its relationship with other sectors of the mixed economy and analyze theoretically and empirically various aspects of this relationship. The book offers new perspectives on the role of nonprofit organizations vis-à-vis for-profit firms and government organizations, a theoretical reevaluation of the relationship between government expenditures and private contributions, and a critique of the econometric studies of the "crowd-in" and "crowd-out" issues. It presents new analysis of the relationship between government expenditures and competition between nonprofit organizations and for-profit firms and new results on the Pareto efficiency of philanthropy, offering comprehensive statistical information on key variables in nonprofit organizations in comparison with for-profit firms and government organizations in several countries.