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Testing the Distributive Effects of Social Enterprises: The Case of Italy

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Social Capital, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Behaviour and Performance

Abstract

The debate on social enterprises has been stimulated by their spontaneous and haphazard emergence in many niches of activity and in various countries. Their initial appearance was driven by initiatives undertaken within civil society by social activists. The specialized literature has accordingly studied this new category of firms in a rather narrow way, whereas it may be more important to determine its general economic features. Different streams of analysis underline different advantages and disadvantages of social enterprises, mainly linking them to the literature on non-profit organizations. But they do so haphazardly, without a clear and comprehensive framework. The main contributions (Anheier and Ben-Ner 2003; Borzaga and Defourny 2001) have been based on industry studies, and on some specific features and types of social enterprises. Legislation has followed the same route by focusing on specific activities and organizational types. An example is the law on social cooperatives in Italy aimed at the regulation of social services and work integration, as well as the regulation of fair trade and micro-finance in various countries, etc.1

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Authors
  1. Carlo Borzaga
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  2. Sara Depedri
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  3. Ermanno Tortia
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics of Trento University, Italy

    Lorenzo Sacconi (Professor of Economics, Unicredit Chair in Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility and Director of EconomEtica) (Professor of Economics, Unicredit Chair in Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility and Director of EconomEtica)

  2. Inter-University Centre of Research, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

    Lorenzo Sacconi (Professor of Economics, Unicredit Chair in Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility and Director of EconomEtica) (Professor of Economics, Unicredit Chair in Economic Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility and Director of EconomEtica)

  3. Department of Sociology and Social Research of the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

    Giacomo Degli Antoni (Assistant Professor of Economics and Research Fellow) (Assistant Professor of Economics and Research Fellow)

  4. EconomEtica, Italy

    Giacomo Degli Antoni (Assistant Professor of Economics and Research Fellow) (Assistant Professor of Economics and Research Fellow)

Copyright information

© 2011 Carlo Borzaga, Sara Depedri and Ermanno Tortia

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Cite this chapter

Borzaga, C., Depedri, S., Tortia, E. (2011). Testing the Distributive Effects of Social Enterprises: The Case of Italy. In: Sacconi, L., Antoni, G.D. (eds) Social Capital, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Behaviour and Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230306189_11

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