IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/econpa/v37y2018i4p374-389.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are Social Enterprises Efficient? A Theoretical Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Beckmann

Abstract

Social enterprises are increasingly being used to distribute income to disadvantaged groups. However, a lack of consensus of what a social enterprise is has prevented researchers from assessing their relative allocative efficiency. I address this gap by extending the standard microeconomic model of a profit‐maximising firm to consider social enterprises as a Social Corporation (SC). I then analyse four types of SC, showing that three can be as allocatively efficient as a for‐profit firm in equilibrium, despite inputs not necessarily being paid their marginal benefit.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Beckmann, 2018. "Are Social Enterprises Efficient? A Theoretical Approach," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 37(4), pages 374-389, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:econpa:v:37:y:2018:i:4:p:374-389
    DOI: 10.1111/1759-3441.12232
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1759-3441.12232
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1759-3441.12232?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. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 1995. "Group lending, repayment incentives and social collateral," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-18, February.
    2. LeClair, Mark S., 2002. "Fighting the Tide: Alternative Trade Organizations in the Era of Global Free Trade," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 949-958, June.
    3. Dow,Gregory K., 2003. "Governing the Firm," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521522212, January.
    4. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1990. "Peer Monitoring and Credit Markets," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 4(3), pages 351-366, September.
    5. George A. Akerlof, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(4), pages 543-569.
    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. Mertzanis, Charilaos, 2019. "Family ties, institutions and financing constraints in developing countries," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    2. Leonardo Becchetti, 2012. "Voting with the wallet," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 59(3), pages 245-268, September.
    3. M. Kabir Hassan, 2002. "The Microfinance Revolution and the Grameen Bank Experience in Bangladesh," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(3), pages 205-265, August.
    4. van Rijn, Jordan, 2018. "The Effect of Membership Expansion on Credit Union Risk and Returns," Staff Paper Series 588, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    5. Grootaert, Christiaan, 1999. "Social capital, houshold welfare, and poverty in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2148, The World Bank.
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:408917 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua, 2011. "Contrat de crédit, décentralisation décisionnelle et performance des institutions de microfinance," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 14(2), pages 143-173, June.
    8. Thilo Klein, 2015. "Does Anti-Diversification Pay? A One-Sided Matching Model of Microcredit," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1521, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    9. Alexander Tedeschi, Gwendolyn, 2006. "Here today, gone tomorrow: Can dynamic incentives make microfinance more flexible?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 84-105, June.
    10. Samuel Lee & Petra Persson, 2016. "Financing from Family and Friends," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(9), pages 2341-2386.
    11. Mohamed, Toka S. & Elgammal, Mohammed M., 2023. "Credit risk in Islamic microfinance institutions: The role of women, groups, and rural borrowers," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    12. Jeffery Carpenter & Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 2006. "Mutual Monitoring in Teams: Theory and Experimental Evidence on the Importance of Reciprocity," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0608, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    13. Hisaki Kono, 2006. "Is group lending a good enforcement scheme for achieving high repayment rates? Evidence from field experiments in vietnam," Artefactual Field Experiments 00075, The Field Experiments Website.
    14. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    15. Bahar Rezaei & Sriram Dasu & Reza Ahmadi, 2017. "Optimal Group Size in Joint Liability Contracts," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 14(3), pages 204-225, September.
    16. Lensink, Robert & Eijkel, Remco van & Hermes, Niels, 2007. "Group lending and the role of the group leader:Theory and evidence from Eritrea," Research Report 07004, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    17. De Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & Murgai, Rinku, 2002. "Rural development and rural policy," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 31, pages 1593-1658, Elsevier.
    18. Eliana La Ferrara, "undated". "Ethnicity and Reciprocity: A model of Credit Transactions in Ghana," Working Papers 193, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    19. Bloise, Gaetano & Reichlin, Pietro, 2005. "Risk and intermediation in a dual financial market economy," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 257-279, September.
    20. Xavier Giné & Pamela Jakiela & Dean Karlan & Jonathan Morduch, 2010. "Microfinance Games," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 60-95, July.
    21. Daripa, Arup, 2008. "Optimal collective contract without peer information or peer monitoring," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 147-163, April.

    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:econpa:v:37:y:2018:i:4:p:374-389. 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: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    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.