The main difference between non-profit and for-profit is that non-profits are accountable to donors and for-profits are accountable to customers. This means that the non-profit sector is going to be more elitist and more less efficient than the for-profit sector. It does not mean, as so many people think, that the non-profit sector operates from better motives or provides more social benefit.I am not saying that a non-profit sector is a bad thing. Just remember that it is inherently paternalistic, and that is problematic.
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This is from economist, author and entrepreneur Arnold Kling at his blog.
You write "It does not mean, as so many people think, that the non-profit sector operates from better motives or provides more social benefit ... I am not saying that a non-profit sector is a bad thing. Just remember that it is inherently paternalistic, and that is problematic."
ReplyDeleteMy experience from receiving services from with non profits is that those which provide the most basic of services, such as no-charge voice mail service, a meal service, a shower and laundry service, or an overnight cot to sleep on, are of the least paternalistic and thus least psychopathic.
A real danger of being a consumer of non-profit services is that it places one in contact with antisocial people who are also making use of the services, that is those who have animal spirits of bear, or of lion, or of leopard, where one can be mauled emotionally, mentally or spiritually, by the thugs and narcissists.