The aim of this paper is to study the welfare e¤ects of consumer cooperatives in mixed oligopoly markets. We show that under decreasing returns to scale and su¢ ciently high market competition these …rms can contribute more to social welfare when acting on behalf of all consumers rather than...

One of the standard predictions of the agency theory is that more incentives can be given to agents with lower risk aversion. In this paper we show that this relationship may be absent or reversed when the technology is endogenous and projects with a higher efficiency are also riskier. Using a...

One of the standard predictions of the agency theory is that more incentives can be given to agents with lower risk aversion. In this paper we show that this relationship may be absent or reversed when the technology is endogenous and projects with a higher efficiency are also riskier. Using a...

The early nineties Western European Cooperation reforms have followed a similar path of innovation. The most innovative change introduced by these reforms is the possibility for the Cooperative firms to comprehend, beside the traditional physical person members (PPlvI's), a certain number of...

Consumer cooperatives constitute a highly successful example of democratic forms of enterprises operating in developed countries. They are usually organized as medium and large-scale ?rms competing with pro?t-maximizing ?rms in retail industries. This paper models such situation as a mixed...

Western European countries have recently witnessed legislative reforms concerning the set of rules governing the co-operative type of organizations (and, in particular, the producer co-operatives). The most innovative aspect introduced by these reforms seems the possibility for the co-operatives...