ABSTRACT
Life in common would be unthinkable if there were no behaviors inspired by gratuity because without gratuity there is not any fully human encounter and no sincere trust can be generated. The motivations underlying actions have an important value in life, in its civil and economic dimensions as well as in organizations. Motivations will matter till as long as organizations and markets remain 'human places'. This recent opening in economics of the subject of motivations is important since the dynamics of values-based organizations (VBOs) can be studied and understood only within an economic science that takes motivations into account. In the economic and social literature, there is no shared definition of VBOs and they are normally identified with religious organizations. The ideal motivation of such organizations found in the kind of activity they perform, in the motivations that stand as the basis of their foundation. Gratuity should not be seen just as the contents of human action.
