Patrimoni & Scopi. Per un’analisi economica delle fondazioni

[Machine translation] The volume collects the contributions presented at the First Workshop on Foundations organized in 2007 by the Department of Economic and Financial Sciences “G. Prato”, at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Turin. In the first part of the work, the topic of foundations is addressed in an evolutionary key, proposing a classification that highlights the plurality of experiences, that is, of assets (huge and not) associated with different missions. We then analyze in detail the foundations of banking origin, the costs and benefits of valuations in the context of grant-making foundations, as well as the role of substitutability/complementarity of the interventions of these foundations with respect to the actions of Local Authorities. Finally, an essential framework of the legislation is outlined. In the second part of the work, space is given to some experiences: from Piedmontese grant foundations with large assets to a foundation “without assets” with technical and managerial purposes created ex lege, up to an operational foundation created by private will, similar to a real non-profit organization. The work highlights the absence of economic studies on the subject of foundations, both from a theoretical and empirical point of view, suggesting some lines of research for the future.