IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/reggov/v3y2009i2p186-195.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The German Gemeinwirtschaftslehre: Implications for modern nonprofit economics

Author

Listed:
  • Vladislav Valentinov

Abstract

This article examines the way modern nonprofit economics can be informed by the Gemeinwirtschaftslehre, a strand of public and nonprofit economics that was popular in German‐speaking countries until the 1980s. Despite its present decline, the Gemeinwirtschaftslehre yields a valuable implication that nonprofit firms address market failure by supplanting the pecuniary entrepreneurial motivation with a nonpecuniary one. In this article, this implication is used to reconsider two central and controversial issues in modern nonprofit economics: the rationale behind the nondistribution constraint in nonprofit firms, and the integration between the market failure and supply‐side theories of the nonprofit sector. The article concludes by discussing the emerging prospects for empirical research.

Suggested Citation

  • Vladislav Valentinov, 2009. "The German Gemeinwirtschaftslehre: Implications for modern nonprofit economics," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 3(2), pages 186-195, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:3:y:2009:i:2:p:186-195
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-5991.2009.01050.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2009.01050.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2009.01050.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. Arthur C. Brooks, 2005. "What do nonprofit organizations seek? (And why should policymakers care?)," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 543-558.
    2. Richard Steinberg, 1986. "The Revealed Objective Functions of Nonprofit Firms," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(4), pages 508-526, Winter.
    3. Vogelsang, Ingo, 1988. "Deregulation and Privatization in Germany," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 195-212, April.
    4. Steinberg, Richard & Weisbrod, Burton A., 2005. "Nonprofits with distributional objectives: price discrimination and corner solutions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(11-12), pages 2205-2230, December.
    5. Ballou, Jeffrey P. & Weisbrod, Burton A., 2003. "Managerial rewards and the behavior of for-profit, governmental, and nonprofit organizations: evidence from the hospital industry," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 1895-1920, September.
    6. Lakdawalla, Darius & Philipson, Tomas, 2006. "The nonprofit sector and industry performance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(8-9), pages 1681-1698, September.
    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. Valentinov, Vladislav, 2009. "Managerial nonpecuniary preferences in the market failure theories of nonprofit organisation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 36(1/2), pages 81-92.
    2. Christoph Starke, 2010. "Serving the Many or Serving the Most Needy?," FEMM Working Papers 100002, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    3. Christoph Starke, 2012. "Serving the many or serving the most needy?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 365-386, December.
    4. Valentinov, Vladislav & Iliopoulos, Constantine, 2013. "Economic theories of nonprofits and agricultural cooperatives compared: New perspectives for nonprofit scholars," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 42(1), pages 109-126.
    5. Susan F. Lu, 2016. "The Role of Donations in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from Nonprofit Nursing Homes Full Access," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 431-462, Fall.
    6. Jonathan Meer & Hedieh Tajali, 2023. "Effects of the Minimum Wage on the Nonprofit Sector," NBER Working Papers 31281, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Ben-Ner Avner & Karaca-Mandic Pinar & Ren Ting, 2012. "Ownership and Quality in Markets with Asymmetric Information: Evidence from Nursing Homes," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-33, October.
    8. Marc Jegers, 2010. "The effect of board‐manager agency conflicts on non‐profit organisations’ earnings and cost allocation manipulations," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(5), pages 407-419.
    9. Shriver, Scott K. & Srinivasan, V. Seenu, 2011. "What If Marketers Put Their Customers ahead of Profits?," Research Papers 2091, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    10. Faulk Lewis, 2014. "Overcoming the Cause of Failure and the Role of Issue Salience: Toward a Comprehensive Theory for Nonprofit Activity and Competition in a Three-Sector Economy," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 335-365, October.
    11. Searing Elizabeth A. M., 2014. "Charitable (Anti)Trust: The Role of Antitrust Regulation in the Nonprofit Sector," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 261-288, October.
    12. Paskalev, Zdravko & Yildirim, Huseyin, 2017. "A theory of outsourced fundraising: Why dollars turn into “Pennies for Charity”," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 1-18.
    13. Moscone, Francesco & Siciliani, Luigi & Tosetti, Elisa & Vittadini, Giorgio, 2020. "Do public and private hospitals differ in quality? Evidence from Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    14. Canh Thien Dang & Trudy Owens, 2024. "Non-governmental organizations’ motivation to diversify: self-interest or operation-related? Evidence from Uganda," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 561-584.
    15. Olivella, Pau & Siciliani, Luigi, 2017. "Reputational concerns with altruistic providers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-13.
    16. Tomas J. Philipson & Richard A. Posner, 2009. "Antitrust in the Not-for-Profit Sector," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(1), pages 1-18, February.
    17. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Brendan Saloner, 2018. "Substance Use Treatment Provider Behavior and Healthcare Reform: Evidence from Massachusetts," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 76-101, January.
    18. Herr, A. & Saric, A., 2016. "The Welfare Effects of Single Rooms in German Nursing Homes: A Structural Approach," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 16/23, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    19. Nathan E. Wilson, 2016. "For-profit status and industry evolution in health care markets: evidence from the dialysis industry," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 297-319, December.
    20. Peter G. Backus, 2012. "Gibrat’s law and legacy for non-profit organisations: a non-parametric analysis," Working Papers 2012/8, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).

    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:wly:reggov:v:3:y:2009:i:2:p:186-195. 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://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-5991 .

    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.