This paper is purposeful towards assessing the significance, state and development of the third sector in Bulgaria. Its first part deals with the theoretical background and specific characteristics of the sector that distinguish and define it as a successful way whereby social problems are...

This paper describes the new database of the International Observatory of Financial Services Cooperatives (FSCs) set up by the Desjardins Center for Studies in Management of FSCs located at HEC-Montreal. The database covers 38 FSCs with 70 data fields per year over a period of 8.8 years on...

The present paper summarizes a Belgian report, SATACBEL, (Ben Sedrine et al., 2011) on the establishment of keys indicators for satellite accounts in Belgium covering cooperatives and mutual societies for the year 2007. Several macroeconomic aggregates are assessed and examined with regard to...

This paper intends to show that a European pattern of social economy exists, contrasting with the US nonprofit sector. This European pattern could be declined in five variations linked to the welfare state regimes and to the social origins of the countries. In the first part dealing with the...