Comunidades y negocios sociales: hacia una propuesta sistémica

The inability of Economics to internalize environmental and social externalities makes its orientation to serve essentially to remunerate the capital through a debt-based economic growth; thus moving away from its primary goal: a correct distribution of scarce resources in order to satisfy human needs. As a consequence, unless a dramatic change in the path of development is implemented, we are leading it to an abyss. The relocation of economies and lifestyles, linked to the rise of social businesses and to the potential of cooperatives as a way of equitable distribution of wealth, inspires an opportunity to redirect human evolution to the creation of resilience generating wellbeing to tackle the increasing threats that the world is facing. There are hundreds of cases in which communities or neighborhoods are assuming an increasing role in the decisions that affect their own future. The key to an encouraging future might lie in providing these socially and environmentally desirable approaches with economical viability.