The main part of this paper is concerned with describing the legal models of cooperative societies from different perspectives: (a) by origin, (b) by type of cooperative, and (c) by continent. Conclusions are drawn on international guidelines for good cooperative law around a common core-the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) Declaration of Cooperative Identity. Read More
The goal of this paper is to apply the theory of commons to residential contexts and verify if and how collective institutions can be used to produce habitability, i.e. a set of particular socio-environmental conditions conducive to inhabiting a particular area. While most literature on the study of the commons has a specific focus on the management of natural resources, this paper argues that collective institutions can work also in urban contexts. Read More
This research, conducted using the traditional method of financial statement indices, concerns the economic and financial performance achieved in the years 2009-2011 by 30 worker cooperatives in the service sector. The cooperatives investigated are medium-sized (turnover 30-50 million euros) and large (turnover over 50 million euros). The results obtained support the thesis that cooperatives exhibit strong resilience in the face of the economic crisis. Read More
Using household survey data from Ethiopia, this paper evaluates the impact of agricultural cooperatives on smallholders’ technical efficiency. We utilize propensity score matching to compare the average difference in technical efficiency between cooperative farmers and similar independent farmers. The approach assumes exogenous cooperative formation and similar farm technology across households. Read More
The text deals with two opposing economic visions: the financial one in which only the growth of capital matters, and the cooperative one in which finding a balance between multiple dimensions, including social and environmental ones, matters. Read More
This paper seeks, first, to measure the intensity of member relationships that connotes BCCs, highlighting their differences at the territorial and size levels and identifying their main determinants. Second, it aims to assess the role of peer monitoring on credit quality by empirically testing the effect of the degree of mutualism on the main indicators of riskiness. Read More
This paper aims to provide a brief general overview of the present state of European Union (EU) cooperative law from the perspective of harmonization of cooperative law in Europe. It also presents the author’s point of view on the possible future of both EU cooperative law and the harmonization of European national cooperative laws. Read More
This article discusses the relationship between cooperatives and their communities, one of the standard ways in which the "cooperative difference" is explained. What are the origins of this special relationship? Why and how did it receive so much attention in the 1990s, when the international cooperative movement undertook a major and sustained effort to articulate its core values and principles? Read More
The question addressed in this paper is whether the financial structure of cooperatives constitutes a badge of identity that differentiates cooperatives from other corporate legal forms such as capital-based companies. To this end, it examines features of their financial structure that are considered typical of cooperatives in a number of documents published by international organizations. Read More
The paper aims to take an in-depth look at the "Network Contract," an innovative form of business aggregation recently introduced by the legislature, through the results of a qualitative survey conducted on a sample of about 300 companies involved in 159 network contracts. Read More
This paper contributes to the literature by carrying out the first empirical investigation into the role of different types of enterprises in the creation of social trust. Drawing on a unique dataset collected through the administration of a questionnaire to a representative sample of the population of the Italian Province of Trento in March 2011, we find that cooperatives are the only type of enterprise where the work environment fosters the social trust of workers. Read More
Among the various expressions of social innovation, the regeneration of community assets by social purpose enterprises is assuming increasing prominence.The paper aims to explore this topic in depth, analyzing the main critical junctures of regeneration processes and highlighting the convergence at the scholarly level between the definitions of social enterprise and public policy. Read More