The “discovery” of social capital in the early 1990s led to an upsurge of research into the economic impact of social cohesion and governmental effectiveness. This paper outlines key developments in the social capital literature over the past 13 years. It then examines theory and evidence of...

The economic rationale for government intervention in a market economy has traditionally been provided by the theory of market failure. This article reviews the market failure paradigm in the light of the more recent literature on government failure. One implication of the theory of government...

Purpose – At present no satisfactory economic theory of non-profit organizational leadership exists. The purpose of this paper is to develop an economic theory of non-profit leadership and apply this theory to the problem of non-profit failure or “voluntary sector failure.”...

Many developed nations have embarked on public sector reform programs based on the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm. This article seeks to evaluate the efficacy of NPM reform strategies as a means of dealing with the problem of "government failure" in public sector hierarchies by examining...

Purpose – Alongside public agencies and private firms, non-profit organizations (NPOs) play a vital role in the delivery of human services in a number of advanced nations. The purpose of this paper is to advance a theory of leadership to try to explain how NPOs can overcome the various forms...

Unlike other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, economics has neglected leadership. This paper proposes that a distinctive leadership role is to facilitate the development of hope so that organizational members can sustain their commitments. The conceptual grounding for this...