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In current economic systems, the role played by non-profit and voluntary organisations is relevant. Several studies analyse the development of these organisations and suggest reasons related to the dissemination of policies that first consider public intervention and then ‘the third way’ of the economy as a way to increase wealth and support economic development. In this context, it should be noted that:

• Modern non-profit organisations (NPOs) take the form of enterprises encouraging the development of capabilities to satisfy human needs in terms of production of goods and utilities.

• A systematic cooperation with the local context (i.e. enterprises and Public Administration) is becoming increasingly more important for the survival and development of NPOs.

• Excellent opportunities for economic and social growth and for mutual development can develop from this type of cooperation.

• Starting from this premise, the purpose of the research is to suggest some insight on the theme of cooperation between for-profit and non-profit world in the light of the thought of Church’s Social Doctrine, and in particular, of the Encyclical Letter of Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate – On Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth. In this sense, the contribution is a conceptual work; the study could improve with empirical research concerning the level of diffusion and the form of collaborations for-profit/non-profit in the Italian context.

Modern non-profit organisations (NPOs) take the form of enterprises encouraging the development of capabilities to satisfy human needs in terms of production of goods and utilities.

A systematic cooperation with the local context (i.e. enterprises and Public Administration) is becoming increasingly more important for the survival and development of NPOs.

Excellent opportunities for economic and social growth and for mutual development can develop from this type of cooperation.

Starting from this premise, the purpose of the research is to suggest some insight on the theme of cooperation between for-profit and non-profit world in the light of the thought of Church’s Social Doctrine, and in particular, of the Encyclical Letter of Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate – On Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth. In this sense, the contribution is a conceptual work; the study could improve with empirical research concerning the level of diffusion and the form of collaborations for-profit/non-profit in the Italian context.

From a methodological point of view, after a literature review on NPOs and corporate social responsibility, the chapter analyses reasons, strategies and tools of collaborations between non-profit and for-profit worlds (the role of Public Administration and hybrid organisation is excluded). Then, focus moves up on Church’s Social Doctrine and Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate with particular attention to the topic analysed in this chapter (collaboration for-profit/non-profit enterprises). The vision emerging from the Encyclical is that the dichotomy between for-profit and NPOs should be resolved by striving for the development of a ‘civil economy’ with the capacity to promote the overall development of the human being. The research highlights the importance of dissemination of initiatives promoted predominantly by NPOs, with the objective of stimulating and supporting the implementation of forms of structured collaboration; we are sure that a ‘connection point’ between for-profit and non-profit is now necessary.

This chapter examines the effects of Oportunidades, a conditional cash transfer program, on the allocation of time of household members in rural Mexico. I exploit the random placement of benefits across communities in the evaluation sample and the program's eligibility criteria and scheme of incentives to identify effects. The majority of Oportunidades benefits are linked to children's school attendance, implying a reduction in the price of schooling. I argue that changes in relative prices lead to substitution effects, whereas the (almost) unconditional nutritional transfer translates into an income effect. Findings show increases in schooling and reductions in children's participation in market and non-market work. Although the program does not seem to substantially alter adults’ time allocation, evidence suggests that adult women substitute for children's time in non-remunerated activities.

This paper explores organizational restructuring in corporate law firms. We review recent changes in law firms’ business models and structures, specifically as they relate to the externalization of work – or the unbundling of work and its placement with outside entities, which redefines the division of labor and the nature of the employment relationship. We draw from the extensive scholarship on the legal profession to raise empirical and theoretical implications of market-driven change to the careers of lawyers as well as the shifting patterns of stratification within corporate firms and the profession at large.

This chapter presents the major components in framing a developmental model of wise organizing in the field of higher education that proceeds along an increasingly more just and responsible path. Our argument considers individual student development theories that lead one to greater competence for wise and socially responsible interactions and engagement in society, and aligns these individual processes with the organizational scholarship emphasizing how organizations enhance their capacities for wise and socially responsible conduct. After reviewing these arguments, we frame a set of research topics required for empirically identifying how universities can cultivate wisdom.

The concept of organizational commitment has recently impacted the participative budgeting and employee performance streams of accounting research. Specifically, a series of studies by Nouri, Nouri and Parker have shown that an individual's level of organizational commitment negatively impacts budgetary slack and positively impacts employee performance (Nouri, 1994; Nouri & Parker, 1996a, Nouri & Parker, 1996b, Nouri & Parker, 1998). A related issue, which has seen little attention in accounting research, is the notion of what causes antecedes an individual's level of organizational commitment. The current study attempts to address this issue by investigating the relationship between an individual's perception of equity and organizational commitment. Using a cross-organizational design, measures of perceptions of pay and workload equity, organizational commitment, and self-rated performance were gathered from a sample of 105 employees from 15 organizations. In accordance with the study's hypotheses, results reveal that a significant portion of an individual's organizational commitment can be explained by his/her perception of pay equity and workload equity. Additional analysis reveals that perception of equity has a significant, direct effect on performance, but this effect is fully-mediated by organizational commitment.

Why did peasants in old-regime Europe scatter their land in small strips within open fields? According to an influential theory advocated by Deirdre McCloskey, the system’s main aim was risk reduction. By spreading out land, peasants were less exposed to the caprices of nature: heavy rains, droughts, frost, or hailstorms. In a time when other insurance institutions were lacking, this approach could be a rational solution, even if, as McCloskey suggests, it could be achieved only at the expense of overall agricultural productivity.

Over the years, McCloskey’s theory has repeatedly been debated. Still, it has never been empirically established to what extent the open fields actually reduced risk. McCloskey offered only indirect evidence, based on hypothetical calculations from short series demesne level yields. Risks on enclosed and open-field land farms were thus never compared.

This chapter presents farm-level harvest variation series, including observations from both types of land. It is based on tithe records of 1,700 farms in Southern Sweden from 1715–1860. Results show that scattering had a limited effect on agricultural risk. The system did protect against small-scale local crop failures. It was less efficient, however, when it came to the large-scale regional harvest disasters that constituted a much more serious threat to peasants of the time. From this perspective, the inner logic of the open-field system is taken up for renewed consideration.

This chapter presents a critical analysis of administration and its dysfunctional relationship to teaching and learning. Researchers conducted an ethnographic study over the course of 2 years. The reflective narrative (Nielsen, 1995) is of an iteration of Smith and Geoffrey's (1968) insider–outsider technique revealed systemic dysfunction, professional deference, and disregard. It provides the framework from which to view the dysfunctional behavior of both teachers and administrators. The critical analysis provides a research to practice component, which informs the preparation of future administrators through the revelation of the study's administrative challenges and expectations in the field of education.

McCloskey hypothesized that peasants scattered their land to diversify their portfolio of land holdings. This diversification produced insurance for peasants. Peasants paid an insurance premium in the form of lower yields on scattered holdings. McCloskey tested this scattering-as- insurance hypothesis with a small subset of Titow's study of grain yields on the Winchester estate. I use the entire data-set to test the robustness of the scattering-as-insurance hypothesis. I find that expanding the data-set lowers the robustness of the results (i.e. peasants are predicted to consolidate more often relative to the restricted data-set). The new estimates also highlight the importance of the assumed level of disaster income. All else equal, the higher is the disaster level income, the less robust is the scattering-as-insurance hypothesis. McCloskey assumed that disaster level income was half the output on a scattered field (d = 50). My empirical analysis suggests a higher level of disaster level income (d = 60). Lastly, I relax the assumption that peasants are motivated by safety-first concerns. McCloskey assumed that peasants would accept any reduction in mean incomes as long as it reduced the probability they faced of a disaster level income. I model peasants as trading off risk (variance of harvest) for consumption (mean harvests) in a more general manner. I find that even very risk-averse peasants would almost never scatter their fields to buy insurance: it was simply too expensive.

McCloskey's model of medieval English agriculture shapes the debate over the origins and persistence of the open fields. This essay deconstructs McCloskey's often-cited analysis and demonstrates that McCloskey's assumptions contradict her conclusions. McCloskey's claims concerning the costs of various methods of mitigating risk are inconsistent with her vision of autarkic villages where scattering protected peasants from adverse agricultural shocks. Instead, McCloskey's claims corroborate an alternative markets-plus-morals view of medieval English villages. Correcting McCloskey's erroneous inferences resurrects long forgotten explanations for the persistence of the open fields and suggests a new agenda for the study of medieval English agriculture.