Financial Cooperatives and Local Development

This book examines the opportunities opened up for financial cooperatives by the recent financial crisis, and explores the role of these institutions in promoting and sustaining local development. The global financial crisis has not only shown the limits of the mainstream theory of markets and rational expectations, but has also generated a great deal of disillusionment with the banking system and underlined the importance of a healthy society for the welfare of the individual. Consequently, new and innovative ways of providing finance are needed, especially for strengthening the development of local societies.

Silvio Goglio is Associate Professor of Political Economy at the University of Trento, Italy, and Coordinator of the Research Area in Cooperatives and Development at Euricse, Trento, Italy. His research interests include collective efficiency and local governance, institutional changes and economic performance, local and cooperative credit and regional development.

Yiorgos Alexopoulos is Researcher at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece and a Research Fellow at Euricse, Trento, Italy. He is head of the Scientific Committee of the Greek Institute of Cooperation and is an advisor to the Greek Association of Cooperative Banks on institutional and development issues. He has also been a member of the think tank of the European Association of Cooperative Banks since 2009. His research interests include rural and local development, social economy and local and cooperative credit.