During the years of high economic growth and rising real estate prices the main bank system had its own underlying rationality. Indeed, Japan could not have achieved high economic growth under the system if it had not been rational. However, the system has gradually become incompatible with the changing economic environment.
The foundations are non-profit operators themselves and can actively contribute to the non-profit sector’s development by identifying areas for intervention and nurturing socially useful initiatives. In deciding how to go about pursuing their objectives, the foundations can adopt a directly operational setup and manage one or more socially useful activities themselves, under arrangements already adopted elsewhere and not new to Italy.