Social Preferences and the Third Sector : Looking for a Microeconomic Foundation of the Local Development Path

The paper is mainly aimed at endorsing the principle, often recurring in literature, according to which the Third Sector is an institution that supports and contributes to the development process of economic systems. The theoretical basis of the study is represented by the idea that development paths of economy are directly linked to the underlying institutional framework (Engerman and Sokoloff 2000, North 1990, Hoff 2000). In this respect, the study of microeconomic foundations cannot be overlooked, starting from the importance of social preferences assumed to be endogenous. To that aim, two stances of economic theory will be taken into consideration: (i) the theory of social preferences (ii) the modern theory of development. The institutions are supposed to bridge between these two stances. For the purpose of this study, the above theories will not be dealt with in a comprehensive way, but will be selected in a way that is coherent with the idea being developed