We provide a new explanation for commercial activities by non-profit organizations whose primary concern is to supply mission output. Starting from the observation that donations to individual non-profits are often highly volatile, we show how investment in commercial activity can constitute a...

We analyze a mixed oligopoly with free entry by private firms, assuming that a public firm maximizes an increasing function of output, subject to a break-even constraint. We establish an irrelevance result: whenever a mixed oligopoly is viable, then aggregate output, aggregate costs and welfare...

In this paper we discuss the role of commercial non-profit firms in the provision of public services, referring to three case studies to illustrate the main issues. We consider problems of corporate governance, including the role of the board of members and the scope for performance-related pay....