Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:55:28.628Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Sector Theorists Should Expand Three-Failures Theory to Include the Family Sector and Varied Forms of Government

from Part II - Reflections and Refinements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

By
Richard Steinberg ,
Eleanor Brown  and
Liza L. Taylor
Edited by
Eva Witesman  and
Curtis Child
Eva Witesman
Affiliation:
Brigham Young University, Utah
Curtis Child
Affiliation:
Brigham Young University, Utah
Get access

Summary

The authors of this chapter conceptualize the “three-failures” perspective in nonprofit-sector theorizing. They then propose the sectoral advantage framework, which revises and generalizes the three-failures approach. The revised framework offers a set of questions and a way of thinking about and interpreting diverse puzzles in the field. The framework uses consistent definitions and criteria so that it can be applied to a broad range of institutions, cultures, and historical periods. The authors develop three themes within the framework: First, they add the family sector and consider its comparative advantages, failures, and activities. Second, they generalize government failure to make it more comprehensive and applicable outside Western democracies. Third, they suggest the capability approach should be incorporated in the determination of sectoral advantages.

Keywords

three-failures theoryrole of nonprofitsfamily failuregovernment failurenonprofit theorynonprofit advantagescapability approachselectorate theoryfamily economicssectoral-advantage framework
Type
Chapter
Information
Reimagining Nonprofits
Sector Theory in the Twenty-First Century
 , pp. 133 - 153
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D., & Verdier, T. (2000). The choice between market failures and corruption. American Economic Review, 90(1), 194–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armand, A., Attanasio, O., Carneiro, P., & Lechene, V. (2020). The effect of gender-targeted conditional cash transfers on household expenditures: Evidence from a randomized experiment. Economic Journal, 130, 1875–1897. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueaa056Google Scholar
Aronsson, T., & Wikström, M. (1996). Local public expenditure in Sweden: A model where the median voter is not necessarily decisive. European Economic Review, 40(9), 1705–1716.Google Scholar
Ben-Ner, A. (1986). Non-profit organizations: Why do they exist in market economies? In Rose-Ackerman, S. (Ed.), The economics of nonprofit institutions: Studies in structure and policy. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ben-Ner, A. (2018). Is altruism (always) good for society? The problem of particularistic giving in a diverse society. Working paper. Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, M. D., Hall, J., Frazier, L., Patel, N., Barker, L., & Shaw, K. (2006). Homicide of children aged 0–4 years, 2003–04: Results from the National Violent Death Reporting System. Injury Prevention, 12(suppl 2), ii39–ii43.Google Scholar
Böhmelt, T. (2014). Political opportunity structures in dictatorships? Explaining ENGO existence in autocratic regimes. The Journal of Environment & Development, 23(4), 446–471. https://doi.org/10.1177/1070496514536396Google Scholar
Brass, J. N. (2016). Allies or adversaries: NGOs and the state in Africa. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, B., & Smith, A. (2009). Political survival and endogenous institutional change. Comparative Political Studies, 42(2): 167–197.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, B., & Smith, A. (2011). The dictator’s handbook: Why bad behavior is almost always good politics. PublicAffairs.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, B., Morrow, J. D., Siverson, R. M., & Smith, A. (1999). Policy failure and political survival: The contribution of political institutions. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 43(2), 147–161.Google Scholar
Chaudhry, S. (2020). The assault on civil society: Explaining state crackdown on NGOs. Draft available from the author.Google Scholar
Derwort, P., Jager, N., & Newig, J. (2019). Towards productive functions? A systematic review of institutional failure, its causes and consequences. Policy Sciences, 52(2), 281–298.Google Scholar
Díaz-Albertini, J. (1993). Nonprofit advocacy in weakly institutionalized political systems: The case of NGDOs in Lima, Peru. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 22(4), 317–337.Google Scholar
Douglas, J. (1987). Political theories of nonprofit organization. In Powell, W. W. (Ed.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook (pp. 43–45). Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Duflo, E. (2003). Grandmothers and granddaughters: Old age pensions and intra-household allocation in South Africa. World Bank Economic Review, 17(1), 1–25.Google Scholar
Feng, Z., Glinskaya, E., Chen, H., Gong, S., Qiu, Y., Xu, J., & Yip, W. (2020). Long-term care system for older adults in China: Policy landscape, challenges, and future prospects. The Lancet, 396(10259), 1362–1372.Google Scholar
Feng, Z., Liu, C., Guan, X., & Mor, V. (2012). China’s rapidly aging population creates policy challenges in shaping a viable long-term care system. Health Affairs, 31(12), 2764–2773.Google Scholar
Guo, J., & Mu, L. (2015). Residential care for elders in China: The private sector as a solution? Social Development Issues, 37(1), 11–24.Google Scholar
Guriev, S., & Treisman, D. (2020). A theory of informational autocracy. Journal of Public Economics, 186, 104–158.Google Scholar
Hansmann, H. (1980). The role of nonprofit enterprise. Yale Law Journal, 89, 835–901.Google Scholar
Hansmann, H. (1987). Economic theories of nonprofit organization. In Powell, W. W. (Ed.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Henrich, J. (2020). The WEIRDest people in the world: How the West became psychologically peculiar and particularly prosperous. Penguin UK.Google Scholar
Herrold, C., & Atia, M. (2016). Competing rather than collaborating: Egyptian nongovernmental organizations in turbulence. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 7(3), 389–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heurlin, C. (2010). Governing civil society: The political logic of NGO–state relations under dictatorship. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 21(2), 220–239.Google Scholar
Hirth, R. A. (1999). Consumer information and competition between nonprofit and for-profit nursing homes. Journal of Health Economics, 18, 219–240.Google Scholar
Holcombe, R. (2018). The Coase theorem, applied to markets and government. Independent Review, 23(2), 249–266. www.jstor.org/stable/26591782Google Scholar
Kleiman, M. A., & Teles, S. M. (2006). Market and non-market failures. In Moran, M., Rein, M., & Goodin, R. E. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of public policy (pp. 624–650). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions (1st ed.). University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Le Grand, J. (1991). The theory of government failure. British Journal of Political Science, 21(4), 423–442.Google Scholar
Lechterman, T., & Reich, R. (2020). Political theory and the Nonprofit sector. In Powell, W. W. & Bromley, P. (Eds.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook (3rd ed.) (pp. 171–191). Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Leung, J. C. (2010). Residential care services for older people in China: From state to market provisions? Social Development Issues, 32(1), 31–47.Google Scholar
Levin, D. (2008). Aging in China: A tradition under stress: Who will care for the nation’s elders? AARP Bulletin [serial originally on the Internet, not currently available from 2008]. As cited in Feng et al., 2012, accessed May 11, 2012 from www.aarp.org/politics-society/around-the-globe/info-07–2008/aging_in_china_a_tradition_under_stress.html. No page for this quote was given.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, H. S. (2018). Non-state actors in weak states. An exploration of NGOs and MNCs in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo [Master’s thesis]. UiT Norges arktiske universitet.Google Scholar
Lundberg, S., Pollak, R., & Wales, T. (1997). Do husbands and wives pool their resources? Evidence from the United Kingdom Child Benefit. Journal of Human Resources, 32(3, Summer), 463–480.Google Scholar
Luo, J., & Kaul, A. (2019). Private action in public interest: The comparative governance of social issues. Strategic Management Journal, 40(4), 476–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machiavelli, N. (2016). The prince with related documents (2nd ed.) (W. J. Connell, Trans.). Bedford/St. Martin’s. (Original work published 1532.)Google Scholar
Marwell, N. P., & Brown, M. (2020). Toward a governance framework for government–nonprofit relations. In Powell, W. W. & Bromley, P. (Eds.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook (4th ed.). Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Najam, A. (2000). The four C’s of government third sector–government relations. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 10(4), 375–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NPC. (2020). The standing committee of the National People’s Congress: Report on inspection of the implementation of the Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China. www.bnu1.org/show_2066.htmlGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ottaway, M., & Mair, S. (2004). States at risk and failed states. Policy Outlook: Democracy and Rule of Law Project. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and German Institute for International and Security Affairs, 1–9.Google Scholar
Salamon, L. M. (1987). Of market failure, voluntary failure, and third-party government: Toward a theory of government–nonprofit relations in the modern welfare state. Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 16(1–2), 29–49.Google Scholar
Semega, J., Kollar, M., Shrider, E. A., & Creamer, J. F. (2020). Income and Poverty in the United States: 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau, current population reports, P60-270). U.S. Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Shang, X. (2001). Moving towards a multi-level and multi-pillar system: Changes in institutional care in two Chinese cities. Journal of Social Policy, 30, 259–281.Google Scholar
Sidel, M. (2022). Rebooting China’s charity law. U.S.-Asia Law Institute Perspectives, 2(25). June 23, 2022, https://usali.org/usali-perspectives-blog/rebooting-chinas-charity-lawGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. (2008). The perils of unearned income. Journal of Politics, 70(3), 780–793.Google Scholar
Smith, S. R., & Grønbjerg, K. A. (2006). Scope and theory of government–nonprofit relations. In Powell, W. W. & Steinberg, R. (Eds.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook (2nd ed.). Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Snape, H., & Wang, W. (2022). Towards a “command civil society”? China’s Xi era rules on social organizing. Paper presented at International Society for Third Sector Research 15th International Conference, Montreal, Canada.Google Scholar
Steinberg, R. (1995). The clash of values in civil society. Working paper. Available from the author.Google Scholar
Steinberg, R. (2006). Economic theories of nonprofit organizations. In Powell, W. W. & Steinberg, R. (Eds.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook (2nd ed.). Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Steinberg, R. (2015). What should social finance invest in and with whom? In Nicholls, A., Paton, R., & Emerson, J. (Eds.), Social finance (pp. 64–95). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. (1990). Intra-household resource allocation: An inferential approach. Journal of Human Resources, 25(4), 635–664. https://doi-org.ccl.idm.oclc.org/http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/by/yearGoogle Scholar
Thompson, D. F. (2018). Theories of institutional corruption. Annual Review of Political Science, 21, 495–513.Google Scholar
Tullock, G. (1996). Corruption theory and practice. Contemporary Economic Policy, 14(3), 6–13.Google Scholar
Wang, Y. (2019). The eight major changes in the Government Work Report on Social Organizations, Social Work, Charity, etc. are worthy of attention! Philanthropy Times (China) 3/5/2019. Accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5NTM3MjM5Mg==&mid=2652355572&idx=1&sn=38c5ad7b2da0829a799fd57700e8445d&chksm=bd1a97f38a6d1ee5c65a8136569e61732b31dae71e44308e3e7c068e372028e572dc8fd735b7&mpshare=1&scene=1&srcid=03056h39b4Yfih8jnPWWkMbj#rd, June 7, 2021.Google Scholar
Ward-Batts, J. (2008). Out of the wallet and into the purse: Using micro data to test income pooling. Journal of Human Resources, 43(2, Spring), 325–351.Google Scholar
Weisbrod, B. A. (1975). Toward a theory of the voluntary nonprofit sector in a three-sector economy. In Phelps, E. S. (Ed.), Altruism, morality, and economic theory (pp. 171–195). Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
West, K. (2017). Agents of altruism: The expansion of humanitarian NGOs in Rwanda and Afghanistan. Routledge.Google Scholar
WolfJr., C. (1979). A theory of nonmarket failure: Framework for implementation analysis. The Journal of Law and Economics, 22(1), 107–139.Google Scholar
WolfJr, C. (1993). Markets or government: Choosing between imperfect alternatives (2nd ed.). MIT Press.Google Scholar
Wolpert, J. (1977). Social income and the voluntary sector. In Papers of the Regional Science Association, 39(1), 216–229.Google Scholar
Young, D. R. (1983). If not for profit, for what? D. C. Heath.Google Scholar
Young, D. R. (1999). Complementary, supplementary, or adversarial: A theoretical and historical examination of government-nonprofit relations in the U.S. In Boris, E. T. & Steuerle, C. E. (Eds.), Nonprofits & government: Collaboration & conflict (pp. 31–67). Urban Institute.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×