Hurting the community

by Richard Denniss in The Canberra Times

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Originally published in The Canberra Times on August 4, 2012

No rational person would work in the community sector. Not according to neoclassical economists at least. Rational individuals, we are told, are motivated by their own self-interest. So why would anyone ever volunteer to help people they don’t know? And why would an organisation structure itself as a ”not-for-profit” when economists typically assume that profit maximisation is the only rational objective?

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