Do social cooperatives stimulate social change? An investigation on Italian firms based on DEA-Malmquist approach
研究了意大利B型社会合作社在劳动力市场、生产率和国家增长中的作用，通过比较其与营利企业的偿付能力、效率和生产率指标，发现差异存在且社会变革可受合作社政策影响。
The cooperative system and especially social cooperatives are increasingly regarded as a fundamental tool in the transition from the welfare state to the welfare society. In Italy, different types of social cooperatives exist (i.e., Type A and Type B), and in particular, Type B social cooperatives have been recognized as playing a major role in active labour policies. Even if a portion of the literature still attributes a sort of entrepreneurial “adolescence” to social cooperatives, some argue that cooperatives have an anti-cyclical role. In the present paper, we discuss the role of Type B social cooperatives in social change and social innovation, suggesting their impact in labour market, productivity and national growth. In order to explore managerial gap compared to for-profit firms, we looked at three composite indicators of balance sheet items, commonly used in the analysis of for-profit companies (i.e., solvency, efficiency, and productivity) before the Covid-19 pandemic. Results suggest that differences exist and social change can be affected by policies for social cooperatives.