economy of common goods Rosario Gómez, Universidad de Sevilla

1. Economy for
the Common
good
“It’s is freedom of expression that we, human being, organise the
world we live in”
Rosario Gómez-Alvarez Diaz
Professor at University of Seville

2. What percent of people is
unhappy?
How have been economic benefits and labour charges shared in your country during the last
years? “Unfairly” *Trends per country, 2008-2012
Global survey -BBC World Service:
22 countries.
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3. Economy for the Common good
Christian Felber :
New values for economy (2008), with the aim of avoiding a fruitless
discussion:
“Who is against Capitalism, is for Communism”.
“Economy for the Common good” proposed with a group of Austrian
entrepreneurs ( 2010).
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4. Wconomy for the Common good
Ethical contradiction:
The values of the companies in the market ≠ the values
we want in our human relationships
Human values: Trust, honesty, responsability,
cooperation, solidarity, generosity and
compassion…
An economy that benefits everyone: Common Good
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5. Changing the rules of the game
Today:
Common Good?
Future:
Common Good
▲
▲
Competence
Cooperation
▲
▲
Profit
Contribute to Common Good
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6. Results of market economy
The company to survive in the market
Minimum costs for the company = Maximum costs for the
rest
The capitalist market enables the unlimited accumulation
of benefits because the law system allows it
Barriers to Market Entry
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7. Results of market economy
RESULTS OF MARKET ECONOMY:
There is twice the amount of food for world population not to
suffer from hunger (almost 1,000 millions of 7,000 millions)
Environmental deterioration
Inequality
Economic insecurity
Unemployment
GDP DOESN’T MEASURE HOW PEOPLE LIVE
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8. How to measure the success in
economy?
“What we measure affects what we do; and if our measurements
are flawed, decisions may be distorted”
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel prize winning economist
Common Good measurements
Microeconomic level: Common Good Balance of organizations
Macroeconomic level: Common Good Product
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9. The Balance of Common good,
another way of measuring
productivity
This is the basic reference success indicator for an organization
5 essential values:
HUMAN DIGNITY
SOLIDARITY
ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY
SOCIAL JUSTICE
DEMOCRATIC AND TRANSPARENT PARTICIPATION
With regard to this stakeholders:
SUPPLIERS
SUBSIDISERS
EMPLOYEES
CLIENTS
SOCIETY
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10. 10

11. VISIBLE RESULTS

13. What are the advantages of the ethically
responsible behaviour?
Companies with good common welfare balances will enjoy
legal advantages:
Reduced tax rates
Beneficial fees
Inexpensive credits
Privileges in public procurement and to get researching
programmes, and so on and so forth.
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14. Non-allowed applications of the
benefit
Swallow other companies up
Sharing with people not working in the company
Political party donations
Financial Investments
Financial markets disappear and are substituted by a
democratic bank that lends according to the savings gained
and charges to cover the costs.
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15. What will the benefit be used for?
Investments with social and ecological added value
Credit refunds
Deposits in limited reserve
Extra pay for employees in a restricted way
Credit without interests for cooperative companies
Excess won’t be used to credit people not working for the
company.
IMPLICATIONS: if the company grows cannot either accumulate
more benefits or create entry barriers
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16. Unlimited growth?
“In nature, growth is just a way of aspiring to
the optimum size”
Leopold Kohr (“Small is beautiful”)

17. Top managers : Minimum salary
• Austria
• Germany
• USA (industry)
• USA (financial industry)
800 times
5000 times
65.000 times
360.000 times

18. Employment
The source of income comes from the work
Employment is shared
Limited salaries allow to share them and not to appropriate the
others’ work
Companies creating employment are awarded
Companies look for joint solutions for unemployment problems
Sabbatical year does exist
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19. Inequality in Spain
In 2013: the number of millionaires grew a 13% in the country
The difference of patrimony between the 25% of the richest
homes and the 25% of the poorest ones raised from 39,3 to
50,4 times from 2005 to 2011.
Poverty risk: 28,2%
Social Barometer in Spain
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20. Limits to property accumulation
 Limit income inequality (factor 20)
 Limit the private property (10 million €)
 Democratize companies (> 250 employees)
 Maximum and minimum inheritance (“democratic dowry”)
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21. Bottom-up participation processes
SOCIALLY SPEAKING:
EDUCATION: SHARED VALUES AS COOPERATION AND NO COMPETENCE
COMMON GOODS: SELF-ORGANIZATION
PUBLIC SERVICES: “CITIZEN COMPANIES”
ECONOMICALLY SPEAKING:
THE COMPANY GENERATES COMMON WELFARE INSTEAD BENEFIT
CCUMULATION FOR THE CAPITAL
POLITICALLY SPEAKING:
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY+DIRECT+PARTICIPATIVE
EBC (Common Welfare Economy) is a cooperative market economy
Is a project for a cooperative society
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