We propose a microeconomic model aimed at describing, in a dual production process, the interaction between the formal and the informal sector. The adopted framework is characterized by the absence of information asymmetries. The latter assumption is motivated by the focus of the paper, which chooses a cooperative rather than a competitive interaction between the for-profit and not for profit sectors, as the non-profit sector offers services which enable and increase the labour productivity of the workers employed in the for profit sector. Specifically, the non-profit industry can lower the monetary costs of labour by paying a share of wages and dividends in real terms. As a result, at aggregate level, consumption expenditure decreases proportionally to the share of goods and services that are not bought on the market. In this scenario the non-profit sector can play an important role in elaborating a way out of the crisis, by: i) reducing the income inequality between the employed and the unemployed, ii) lowering labour costs, and iii) endowing workers with an alternative source of employment. The theoretical analysis, complemented by empirical evidence built on Italian data collected for the period 2005-2012, shows that the model is not yet applicable in the Italian context as the non-profit industry is growing, but it is still inadequate in size to complement the activities of the for profit sector. However, we claim that Italy should elaborate a way out of the crisis by empowering the Third Sector, and, more in general, a 'good informal economy' made of non-profit institutions. CIRIEC recueillies durant la période 2005-2012, montre que le modèle n'est pas encore applicable dans le contexte italien car le secteurà but non lucratif croît mais n'a pas encore atteint de dimension suffisante pour compléter les activités du secteurà but lucratif. Cependant, les auteurs affirment que l'Italie devrait trouver une issueà la crise en donnant procuration au Tiers Secteur et, plus généralement,à un bon secteuréconomique informel composé d'organisations sans but lucratif.
<p><em>The paper analyzes urban-rural difference on the individual psychological well-being of residents living in the Autonomous Province of Alto Adige, region on the border between Italy and Austria. Data comes from a cross-sectional survey undertaken in 2010 on a statistical representative sample, based on the PGWBI, an instrument specifically used to measure individual subjective well-being. The study examines the influence of socio-demographic factors, as well as cultural determinants, on the PGWBI. Urban inhabitants were found to perceive higher level of psychological well-being compared to rural ones, while the determinants affecting individual subjective had a greater impact on the rural one.</em></p>
The purpose of this article is to make a distinctive contribution to the emergence of a new form of partnership between municipalities and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). These collaborations are articulated at the border between the public and the society as well as between the formal and the informal economy. We revise the Esping-Andersen paradigm about the three main welfare regimes, where the welfare state, the family and the market are seen as three sources of managing social risks (Esping-Andersen, 1999), and we illustrate how the collaboration between CSOs and local administrations might improve the connection between the state and the citizens. In the perspective of the Third Sector Reform, which is actually underway in Italy, the hybridization of different forms of organizations could bring innovative solutions to the new real social risks of the communities. Specifically, this form of collaboration between local public administrations and the CSOs is part of the theme of volunteering and social citizenship, which advocates citizens’ empowerment in the production of social welfare and services of general interest. This area of collaboration is positioned between social rights and social obligations and provides a contribution that fosters the redistributive capacity of the public sphere through a participatory policy making.
In this chapter we illustrate how the public sector might fail in narrowing spatial inequalities, and how both underdeveloped markets and urgent territorial needs create in peripheral areas robust individual incentives to turn into non-profit activities or even household production. In all those situations, a well-developed non-profit sector can offer marginalized or excluded social groups a legal and ethical opportunity to obtain a decent income by offering rewards (monetary or nonmonetary) in exchange for volunteering, allowing households to afford the cost of living. Laying on the results of the analysis, we discuss four cases of successful cooperation among SSE institutions by one side, and the private and the public sector on the other. In all those cases, the private and the public sector decided to facilitate the development of the non-profit sector by contracting out part of the production process to reduce costs and achieve a higher level of effectiveness. The result was successful because the non-profit sector did not incur in the opportunistic behaviors that might affect profit-oriented activities. Therefore, we suggest how local inter-institutional cooperation among the SSE, the private and the public sector should become the norm rather than the exception, in order to achieve at the same time a higher level of equitable and sustainable development and well-being.
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