IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/annpce/v79y2008i2p249-267.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Moral Hazard And Labour‐Managed Firms In Italy After The Law N. 142/2001

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco REITO

Abstract

ABSTRACT**: Instead of focusing on the difference between a labour‐managed (LMF) and a profit maximizing firm (PMF) in terms of final out‐come and occupation, this paper considers the actual possibility for a firm to be financed from outside. A simple case of moral hazard in the credit market is analyzed. A bank, for limited funds, can finance one of two potential firms, a LMF or a PMF, both with similar project size. The Italian case is taken into account: the law n. 142/2001 has equalized the position of workers and members of a LMF as (own) firm creditors during a liquidation. This has an effect on the structure of creditors priorities in case a firm goes bankrupt and, in particular, on money‐lenders likelihood of getting their loans back. It is argued that, before the law, the LMF had in general an advantage on the PMF, from banks viewpoint, for it faced a lower moral hazard problem on effort contribution. After the law, even though the direct consequence seems to be a draw back in LMF credit‐worthiness, the model shows that, on given conditions, this type of firm remains more competitive as a bank borrower.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco REITO, 2008. "Moral Hazard And Labour‐Managed Firms In Italy After The Law N. 142/2001," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(2), pages 249-267, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:annpce:v:79:y:2008:i:2:p:249-267
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8292.2008.00363.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8292.2008.00363.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-8292.2008.00363.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David de Meza & David C. Webb, 1987. "Too Much Investment: A Problem of Asymmetric Information," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(2), pages 281-292.
    2. Furubotn, Eirik G & Pejovich, Svetozar, 1973. "Property Rights, Economic Decentralization, and the Evolution of the Yugoslav Firm, 1965-1972," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(2), pages 275-302, October.
    3. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    4. Dow, Gregory K, 1993. "Why Capital Hires Labor: A Bargaining Perspective," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 118-134, March.
    5. Rothschild, Michael & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1970. "Increasing risk: I. A definition," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 225-243, September.
    6. Meade, James E, 1972. "The Theory of Labour-Managed Firms and of Profit Sharing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 82(325), pages 402-428, Supplemen.
    7. Besanko, David & Thakor, Anjan V, 1987. "Collateral and Rationing: Sorting Equilibria in Monopolistic and Competitive Credit Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 28(3), pages 671-689, October.
    8. Bester, Helmut, 1987. "The role of collateral in credit markets with imperfect information," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 887-899, June.
    9. Rothschild, Michael & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1971. "Increasing risk II: Its economic consequences," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 66-84, March.
    10. Bhaskar Dutta & Salvador BarberÁ, 2000. "original papers : Incentive compatible reward schemes for labour-managed firms," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 5(2), pages 111-127.
    11. de Meza, David & Webb, David, 2000. "Does credit rationing imply insufficient lending?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 215-234, November.
    12. A. B. Atkinson, 1973. "Worker Management and the Modern Industrial Enterprise," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 375-392.
    13. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-444, June.
    14. Innes, Robert, 1991. "Investment and government intervention in credit markets when there is asymmetric information," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 347-381, December.
    15. Bruno Jossa, 2001. "L'impresa gestita dai lavoratori e la disoccupazione classica e keynesiana," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 121-136.
    16. Furubotn, Eirik G, 1976. "The Long-Run Analysis of the Labor-Managed Firm: An Alternative Interpretation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(1), pages 104-123, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:bla:scotjp:v:49:y:2002:i:2:p:162-95 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Giuseppe Coco & Giuseppe Pignataro, 2013. "Unfair credit allocations," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 241-251, June.
    3. Karel Janda, 2008. "Which Government Interventions Are Good in Alleviating Credit Market Failures?," Working Papers IES 2008/12, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jul 2008.
    4. Dow,Gregory K., 2019. "The Labor-Managed Firm," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107589650.
    5. Ahlin, Christian & Gulesci, Selim & Madestam, Andreas & Stryjan, Miri, 2020. "Loan contract structure and adverse selection: Survey evidence from Uganda," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 180-195.
    6. Karel Janda, 2003. "Credit guarantees in a credit market with adverse selection," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2003(4), pages 331-349.
    7. Coco, G. & Pignataro, G., 2011. "Perverse cross-subsidization in the credit market," Working Papers 11/01, Department of Economics, City University London.
    8. Gregory Dow, 2001. "Allocating Control over Firms: Stock Markets versus Membership Markets," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 18(2), pages 201-218, March.
    9. Karel Janda, 2011. "Credit Rationing and Public Support of Commercial Credit," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp436, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    10. Karel Janda, 2011. "Credit Guarantees and Subsidies when Lender has a Market Power," Working Papers IES 2011/18, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jun 2011.
    11. Martin Petrick, 2005. "Empirical measurement of credit rationing in agriculture: a methodological survey," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 33(2), pages 191-203, September.
    12. Pozzolo, Alberto Franco, 2004. "The Role of Guarantees in Bank Lending," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp04021, University of Molise, Department of Economics.
    13. Maitreesh Ghatak & Massimo Morelli & Tomas Sjoström, 2001. "Credit rationing, wealth inequality, and allocation of talent," ICER Working Papers - Applied Mathematics Series 23-2001, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    14. Bagella, M. & Becchetti, L. & Caggese, A., 2001. "Financial constraints on investments: A three-pillar approach," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 219-254, June.
    15. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2006_026 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Enrico Minelli & Salvatore Modica, 2009. "Credit Market Failures and Policy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 11(3), pages 363-382, June.
    17. Mohamed Oudgou & Abdeslam Boudhar, 2023. "The bank–SME relationship and rationing risk reduction: an empirical study on survey data," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(8), pages 1-39, August.
    18. Niinimäki, Juha-Pekka, 2018. "Collateral in credit rationing in markets with asymmetric information," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 97-102.
    19. Chris Doucouliagos, 1997. "The Comparative Efficiency and Productivity of Labor-Managed and Capital-Managed Firms," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 45-69, June.
    20. Coco, Giuseppe, 1999. "Collateral, heterogeneity in risk attitude and the credit market equilibrium," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 559-574, March.
    21. Mälkönen, Ville & Vesala, Timo, 2006. "The adverse selection problem in imperfectly competitive credit markets," Research Discussion Papers 26/2006, Bank of Finland.
    22. Mälkönen, Ville & Vesala, Timo, 2006. "The adverse selection problem in imperfectly competitive credit markets," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 26/2006, Bank of Finland.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:annpce:v:79:y:2008:i:2:p:249-267. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1370-4788 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.