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Entry and Exit of Nonprofit Organizations: National, Sectorial, and Geographic Trends with Italian Census Data

Author

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  • Barbetta Gian Paolo

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Department of Economics and Finance, Largo Gemelli, 1 20123Milano, Italy)

  • Canino Paolo

    (Fondazione Cariplo Evaluation Unit, Via Manin, 23, 20123Milano, Italy)

  • Cima Stefano

    (Fondazione Cariplo Evaluation Unit, Via Manin, 23, 20123Milano, Italy)

  • Verrecchia Flavio

    (Istat, Sede territoriale Lombardia, Via Porlezza, 1220123Milano, Italy)

Abstract

The latest census of Italian nonprofit organizations – compared with the previous one – showed a significant development of the nonprofit sector between 2001 and 2011. The number of organizations increased more than 28 % while the growth of employees (about 61 %) was even more impressive.These results notwithstanding, the mere comparison of aggregate census data does not give a true understanding of the dynamic of the sector. The entry and exit of organizations, as well as their migration between different sectors of activity, or geographical areas, can be analyzed properly only using firm-level panel data, but these data are rarely available so that only a few authors had a chance to use them. In this paper, we try to fill this gap using firm-level panel data for the first time in Italy. Our analysis tempers the optimism arising from aggregate data. We show that: a) part of the growth is determined by the emergence of already active organizations that were not detected a decade ago; b) because of low barriers, the entry of new nonprofit organizations is very relevant, but their net contribution to the growth of employment is quite small; c) opposite to what happened in other countries, the exit of nonprofit organizations is very significant, and d) organizations that were already active a decade ago gave the most important contribution to the growth of employment. We also investigate geographical trends, showing that the slower growth of the nonprofit sector in Southern Italy depends on the very high exit rate of the area, while the entry rate is more or less in line with the rest of the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbetta Gian Paolo & Canino Paolo & Cima Stefano & Verrecchia Flavio, 2018. "Entry and Exit of Nonprofit Organizations: National, Sectorial, and Geographic Trends with Italian Census Data," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 9(2), pages 1-12, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:nonpfo:v:9:y:2018:i:2:p:12:n:4
    DOI: 10.1515/npf-2017-0036
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Leonardo Becchetti & Stefano Castriota & Sara Depedri, 2014. "Working in the for-profit versus not-for-profit sector: what difference does it make? An inquiry on preferences of voluntary and involuntary movers," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(4), pages 1087-1120.
    2. Yoshiho Matsunaga & Naoto Yamauchi, 2004. "Is the Government Failure Theory Still Relevant? A panel analysis using US state level data," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(2), pages 227-263, June.
    3. Harrison Teresa & Thornton Jeremy, 2014. "Too Many Nonprofits? An Empirical Approach to Estimating Trends in Nonprofit Demand Density," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 213-229, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Henrekson Ebba & Andersson Fredrik O. & Wijkström Filip & Ford Michael R., 2020. "Civil Society Regimes and School Choice Reforms: Evidence from Sweden and Milwaukee," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-37, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    entry; exit; nonprofit organizations; census; microdata; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

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