Delbono, Flavio ;
Reggiani, Carlo
(2013)
Cooperative firms and the crisis: evidence from some Italian mixed oligopolies.
Bologna:
Dipartimento di Scienze economiche - DSE,
p. 25.
DOI
10.6092/unibo/amsacta/3691.
In: Quaderni - Working Paper DSE
(884).
ISSN 2282-6483.
Full text available as:
Abstract
We investigate how cooperative firms reacted to the current crisis. This allows us to compare the behavior of cooperative and conventional firms facing exogenous shifts in demand. After a short survey of a stream of theoretical literature, we analyze a large group of Italian production cooperatives in the periods 2003-2010 and 1994-2011 and we contrast co-ops behavior with the overall trend in the industries in which they operate. Our sample’s evidence suggests that the cooperative’s behavior has a stabilizing effect on employment with respect to shocks in output demand. Unlike profit-maximizers, cooperative firms seem to be adjusting pay more than employment when facing shocks. Production co-ops look better equipped than their profit-maximizing counterparts in tackling the long recession also because they have been very cautious in their profit policies over time. Unlike conventional firms, they have significantly increased their own equity during “good” years instead of distributing large dividends to their members.
Abstract
We investigate how cooperative firms reacted to the current crisis. This allows us to compare the behavior of cooperative and conventional firms facing exogenous shifts in demand. After a short survey of a stream of theoretical literature, we analyze a large group of Italian production cooperatives in the periods 2003-2010 and 1994-2011 and we contrast co-ops behavior with the overall trend in the industries in which they operate. Our sample’s evidence suggests that the cooperative’s behavior has a stabilizing effect on employment with respect to shocks in output demand. Unlike profit-maximizers, cooperative firms seem to be adjusting pay more than employment when facing shocks. Production co-ops look better equipped than their profit-maximizing counterparts in tackling the long recession also because they have been very cautious in their profit policies over time. Unlike conventional firms, they have significantly increased their own equity during “good” years instead of distributing large dividends to their members.
Document type
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Creators
Keywords
cooperative firms, mixed oligopoly, crisis
Subjects
ISSN
2282-6483
DOI
Deposit date
06 Jun 2013 07:50
Last modified
03 Oct 2013 07:58
URI
Other metadata
Document type
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Creators
Keywords
cooperative firms, mixed oligopoly, crisis
Subjects
ISSN
2282-6483
DOI
Deposit date
06 Jun 2013 07:50
Last modified
03 Oct 2013 07:58
URI
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