This article explores the cross-fertilization potential that exists between the economic theory of agricultural cooperatives and that of nonprofit organizations. A number of central ideas in the agricultural cooperative theory are shown to generate two novel insights pertaining to the nonprofit...

Social capital is defined as the shared knowledge, trust, and culture, embodied in the structural forms of networks and other stable inter-agent relationships. Social capital has been shown to be more difficult to build than economic capital, and to have greater beneficial effects for community...

Member commitment is essential for the efficiency and survival of member-based economic organizations like agricultural cooperatives. In Ethiopia, cooperatives are considered as important vehicles for linking smallholder farmers to markets and for rural development more generally. However,...