Nonprofit Organizations in Perspective

The editors of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ) have generously invited me to respond to the reviews of my book, The Ownership of Enterprise, that appeared in the June 1999 issue (Vol. 28, No. 3). I am happy to have the opportunity. I am extremely grateful to the three authors of those reviews: Peter Hall, Evelyn Brody, and Andreas Ortmann. All are leading scholars of the nonprofit sector within their respective disciplines of history, law, and economics. It is not just an honor, but also very instructive to have them turn their attention so carefully to my work. All three reviews, and the editors’ introductory remarks to them, are so thoughtful and generous as to leave me virtually nothing to complain about and very little to add. Consequently, I will confine myself here to a few reflections that are inspired by their comments, including some thoughts about promising directions for future research.