Résumé
It is puzzling that cooperatives, which stand for the interests of their users, do not occupy more space in the market for corporate forms. This paper unveils a new impediment to their formation. It shows that equilibrium free-riding handicaps cooperatives in their competition with alternative institutions, notably the for-profits. The irrelevance of cooperatives is a remarkably robust result. The paper then analyzes desirable government interventions in the corporate market.
Mots-clés
Cooperatives; free-riding; competing corporate forms;
Codes JEL
- D23: Organizational Behavior • Transaction Costs • Property Rights
- D71: Social Choice • Clubs • Committees • Associations
- D8: Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
- L22: Firm Organization and Market Structure
Référence
Jean Tirole, Paul-Henri Moisson et Pierre Dubois, « The (Ir)Relevance of the Cooperative Form », TSE Working Paper, n° 23-1453, juin 2023.
Voir aussi
Publié dans
TSE Working Paper, n° 23-1453, juin 2023