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For-Profit, State, and Nonprofit: How to Cut the Pie Among the Three Sectors

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  • Avner Ben-Ner

Abstract

What is the best way to deliver various goods and services in the advanced complex economy? What is the appropriate division of labor among the state, the private for-profit, and the nonprofit sectors? This paper explores these questions relative to the well-being of consumers, and offers a set of broad answers grounded in a benefit-cost analysis that balances (1) the relative value derived by consumers and customers from their relations with organizations from the three sectors, and (2) the relative efficiency of the internal organization of these types of organizations. The paper illustrates this benefit-cost analysis in the context of several industries.

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  • Avner Ben-Ner, "undated". "For-Profit, State, and Nonprofit: How to Cut the Pie Among the Three Sectors," Working Papers 0304, Human Resources and Labor Studies, University of Minnesota (Twin Cities Campus).
    • Handle: RePEc:hrr:papers:0304
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Taylor, Dennis & Tharapos, Meredith & Sidaway, Shannon, 2014. "Downward accountability for a natural disaster recovery effort: Evidence and issues from Australia's Black Saturday," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 633-651.
    2. Norbert Kawęcki, 2022. "Current and future roles in the social economy and the COVID-19 crisis," Nowoczesne Systemy Zarządzania. Modern Management Systems, Military University of Technology, Faculty of Security, Logistics and Management, Institute of Organization and Management, issue 3, pages 49-64.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Three-Sector Economy; Division of labor among for-profit firms; state; and nonprofit organizations; Organization-consumer interface; Comparative analysis of agency problems; Production of public goods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises

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