While other parts of the new institutional economics (e. g. principal agent theory,transaction cost theory) have already been applied to co-operative researchwith some success, property rights theory has as yet been only rarelyused in this regard. At the same time, the traditional structure of...

The tasks as well as the types of co-operatives within an economy have continuously been discussed for nearly two hundred years. Since the days of Owen, the principles as well as the appearance of co-operatives have been heavily disputed. This became evident by the controversy between Huber,...