Some Jobs Are Best Left to the Nonprofits

Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are publicly traded, profit-oriented corporations.1517410182331 So it is interesting that when they announced their new joint health-care venture this week they made a point of saying it would be "an independent company that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints."

Interesting but maybe not all that surprising: Around the world, health, life and property insurance, as well as various other financial services, have long been provided by nonprofit organizations, mostly in the form of customer-owned mutuals. From the 1960s through 2000s, wave after wave of conversions turned many of these entities -- especially in the U.S. and U.K. -- into shareholder-owned for-profit corporations. But since the global financial crisis, the idea that corporations out to maximize shareholder returns might not always be the best at managing financial and other risks has undergone something of a revival.