Volunteer Engagement in Housing Co-Operatives – Civil Society “en miniature”

Housing co‐operatives host miniature versions of civil society. They vitalise a social system that is shaped by formal regulations, economic functions, and a population of private housing units. The study examines factors that influence a person’s willingness to volunteer in civic society using a multilevel analysis based on survey data from 32 co‐operatives and 1263 members. To do so, the social exchange theory is extended to include the member value approach, which connects social engagement with the fulfillment of a range of needs, thus going beyond a narrow economic cost benefit analysis. Study results show that volunteer engagement largely depends on the degree to which members can expect to experience their own achievement. This finding provides an explanation for significant differences in the engagement levels beyond factors that have already been determined (age, level of education). On an organizational level, the study reveals that the age of an organization influences volunteer engagement, but that the size and the degree of professionalization do not have an effect on it

Ownership structure and market conduct among Swiss banks

This paper explores the degree of competition among each of several major categories of Swiss banks, using a structural econometric model. Conduct is found to vary across ownership structures, with foreign-owned banks exhibiting the most market power and state-owned or mutual banks the least. The results are consistent with agency theory but contrast with some previous empirical results. They are also consistent with a Swiss premium in the provision of international banking services, though this latter hypothesis is not formally tested.