- Social economy in the EU
- In the spotlight
- Social economy in the EU
- Why social economy enterprises are important
- The external dimension of social and solidarity economy
- Challenges and avaialable support
- Commission measures
- European social economy regions pilot (ESER)
- Supporting information
- Events, projects and studies
- Events
- Projects
- Market Economy Countries 2021
- Countries with Market Economies
- Social market economy
- Contents
- History [ edit ]
- Comparisons to the Third Way and social democracy [ edit ]
Social economy in the EU
A significant proportion of Europe’s economy is intended to make profits for people other than investors or owners. Known as the ‘social economy’, it includes cooperatives, mutual societies, non-profit associations, foundations and social enterprises. They operate a very broad number of commercial activities, provide a wide range of products and services across the European single market and generate millions of jobs. Social enterprises are also the engine for social innovation.
In the spotlight
Social economy in the EU
- What they are — there are 2 million social economy enterprises in Europe, representing 10% of all businesses in the EU. More than 11 million people – about 6% of the EU’s employees – work for social economy enterprises. They have different legal forms and various objectives ranging from agriculture and banking to provision of employment and sheltered workshops.
- Main objectives — the primary objective of the traditional social economy enterprises is to serve the members and not to obtain a return on investment as the traditional mainstream capital companies do. The members act in accordance with the principle of solidarity and mutuality, and manage their enterprise on the basis of ‘one man one vote’ principle.
- Social enterprises — an important and growing group of social economy enterprises are the social enterprises. Their main objective is to have a social, societal or environmental impact for the general interest.
- Policy — when policy-makers work to improve the business environment in Europe, they need to ensure that the specificities of these enterprises like ethos, working style, corporate governance, specific accounting modes, asset lock, profits retaining, special ‘social’ objectives are taken into account.
Why social economy enterprises are important
Social economy enterprises are important because of their
- Membership — up to 160 million people in Europe are members of social economy enterprises (mostly retail, banking and agricultural cooperatives, as well as mutual societies offering services complementary to social security regimes).
- Objectives — social economy enterprises contribute to the EU’s employment, social cohesion, regional and rural development, environmental protection, consumer protection, agricultural, third countries development, and social security policies.
- Size — social economy entities are mostly micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The external dimension of social and solidarity economy
- The European Commission works closely with the European External Action Service to participate in international development forums (agenda 2030: sustainable development goals, G20 inclusive business platform and G7 global social impact investment steering group) to enhance the visibility of social and solidarity economy (SSE) and make SSE part of the global political agenda. The UN Inter-Agency Task Force on SSE and the international leading group on SSE (ILGSSE) are already observers to the Commission’s expert group on social entrepreneurship (GECES) and the Commission is developing a constructive relationship with these two entities. The Commission is supporting the prospect of more EU countries becoming members of the ILGSSE, as stated during the 8 th GECES meeting on 24 November 2015 (see meeting agenda (240 kB) and minutes (416 kB)).
- The Commission’s statement at the high level political forum on sustainable development 2016 side event ‘social and solidarity economy as a strategic means of implementation of the social development goals’ – New York, 20 July 2016.
Challenges and avaialable support
- Access to finance — social enterprises are struggling to find the right funding opportunities due to the lack of understanding of their functioning and their small size. However, they can benefit from all European programmes such as COSME, or the structural funds such as the regional development fund and the European social fund. The Commission recommended EU countries to prioritise the activities of social enterprises in the national operational programmes for the period 2014 to 2020.
- Low degree of recognition — the Commission finances projects to review legislation, share good practices, awareness raising events and projects for the collection of statistical data, for cooperatives and mutuals and social enterprises.
- Varying regulatory environments across EU countries and activity related obstacles for some legal forms of social economy enterprises — the Commission examines how best to respond to these problems in the area of state aid, public procurement or legal statuses to promote the appropriate policies.
- Lack of entrepreneurial skills — social enterprises managers and starting entrepreneurs are eligible under Commission’s exchange programme — Erasmus for young entrepreneurs.
Commission measures
The Commission aims for a level playing field in which social economy enterprises can compete effectively and fairly, without regulatory discrimination and taking into account their particular needs. To promote a highly competitive social market economy, the Commission has addressed the issue in
The Commission submitted the following proposals to the Council of the European Union
- Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (1992)
- Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Mutual (social security and insurance society) (1992)
- Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Association (1992)
- Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Foundation (2012).
In 2003, the statute for a European cooperative was adopted. The other 2 proposals of 1992 were withdrawn in 2006 by the Commission due to lack of legislative progress, while the last one on the European foundation was withdrawn by the Commission due to lack of progress within the Council (December 2014).
European social economy regions pilot (ESER)
We launched the European social economy regions pilot (ESER) in February 2018. It aims to raise visibility and awareness about the social economy at the regional and local level. ESER supports regional authorities that organise awareness-raising events. There, we encourage regional social economy stakeholders (regional/local public authorities, SMEs, social enterprises etc.) to build active networks. Between 2018-2020, the ESER initiative generated more than 100 new regional and local partnerships, without any financial support from the European Commission.
The recently launched ESER 2020 attracted many regional and local social economy stakeholders who will organise awareness-raising events during 2020. In addition to previous years, the 2020 edition offered regions and cities that already played an active role in 2018/2019, the opportunity to raise their awareness-raising activities to the next level. The ESER 2.0 component motivated many ESER partners to come up with innovative proposals. This led to partners involving citizens in regional debates about the social economy or joining forces with neighbouring regions and cities, further developing the interregional dimension.
More than 30 regions and cities from EU countries and COSME third countries applied for ESER 2020.
During the European Social Economy Summit in Mannheim (26-27 November), regional and local social economy stakeholders (the ESER partners) have another opportunity to share knowledge and table proposals/recommendations for social economy policies.
See the ESER 2020 official partners.
Supporting information
- social business initiative (COM(2011) 682 final)
- Council of the EU: ‘the promotion of the social economy as a key driver of economic and social developement in Europe’, Council conclusions (7 December 2015)
- Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 on the statute for a European cooperative society (SCE)
- Communication on the promotion of cooperative societies in Europe COM(2004)18
- social economy Europe
- guide to social innovation
- International Center of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy — CIRIEC
Events, projects and studies
Events
- Conference: partnerships between social and traditional enterprises (Brussels, 3-4 July 2018)
- Side event to the social summit (Gothenburg, 16 November 2017)
- 4th EMES international conference on social enterprise (Liège, 1-4 July 2013)
- Conference: cooperative contributions to the EU 2020 strategy (Brussels, 23 April 2012)
- Conference: social economy and social business (Brussels, 18 November 2011)
- Conference on social economy under the Belgian presidency (Brussels, 27-28 October 2010)
- Conference ‘social economy: doing business differently; challenges and opportunities in globalised world’ (Toledo, Spain, 6-7 May 2010)
- 2nd international CIRIEC research conference on the social economy
- 2nd EMES international conference on social enterprise
- European conference on social economy and entrepreneurship
- European conference on social enterprises
- European conference on social economy
- 1st international CIRIEC research conference on the social economy
- 3rd CIRIEC international research conference on the social economy
Projects
Satellite accounts for cooperatives and mutuals (2009): The objective was to develop reliable statistics on cooperatives and mutuals at national and European level. The projects were
Name: Developing an information system of the central cooperative union as a basis for the establishment of satellite accounts for cooperatives in Bulgaria
Источник
Market Economy Countries 2021
Population
A market economy is a system driven by self-interest in which economic decisions (investment, production, and distribution) are guided by the pricing of goods and services. These price signals are determined by individual citizens and businesses.
Market economies rely on the forces of supply and demand to determine the appropriate prices and quantities to produce for most goods and services. Competition also drives market economies by optimizing innovation and efficiency.
The six characteristics of a market economy are:
- Private property
- Freedom of choice
- Motive of self-interest
- Competition
- System of markets and prices
- Limited government
Capitalism requires a market economy to set prices and distribute goods and services, while socialism and communism need a command economy to guide economic decisions. Most developed countries in the world today have elements of all three economies, making them [mixed economies](https://www.thebalance.com/mixed-economy-definition-pros-cons-examples-3305594.
In a free market economy, the central government has little intervention or central planning. Most economists agree that more market-oriented economies have better outcomes, but struggle to determine the best balance of free markets and central planning that provides the fundamental legal and institutional structure that provides stability, equity, and long-term benefits.
Countries with Market Economies
There are currently no purely free market economies in the world. Most economies are mixed market economies because they have some portion of the means of production under control. Some economies, however, are freer than others.
According to the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Rankings, the five countries with the most economic freedom are Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United States. This report ranks countries based on these cornerstones of economic freedom: personal choice rather than collective choice, voluntary exchange coordinated by markets, freedom to enter and compete in markets, and protection of persons and their property.
Based on the Fraser Institute’s report, the 25 most economically free countries in the world are:
Cuba, China, and North Korea are examples of what mixed socialist economies look like.
Источник
Social market economy
| The dismal science Economics |
| Economic Systems |
| Major Concepts |
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| The Worldly Philosophers |
A social market economy, also known as Rhine capitalism (named after the river Rhine) or social capitalism, is an economic system which consists of two components: the central elements of a free market (free trade, exchange of goods and free formation of prices) and a welfare state (universal health care, old-age pension and unemployment insurance) as part of an extensive social security system to help eliminate the harmful effects of a laissez-faire system; thus it can be classified as a mixed economy, coupling high economic freedom with a degree of government regulation to prevent abuses of private power. [1] [2] The social market remains one of the primary features of many nations in Central Europe, admired by many political parties in the political center. ContentsHistory [ edit ]The term «social market economy» (German: soziale Marktwirtschaft) originated during the 1930s amongst a group of economists that originated the Freiburg School (the ordoliberals After World War II (1939-1945) and the split of Germany into Western and Eastern sectors (1949-1990), ordoliberal thought was quickly implemented in Bonn, especially by Konrad Adenauer (Chancellor from 1949 to 1963) and by Ludwig Erhard (Federal Minister of Economics from 1949 to 1963) under the auspices of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. The result was the Wirtschaftswunder («economic miracle») [4] that helped re-establish the economy of western Germany. Comparisons to the Third Way and social democracy [ edit ]While the social market economy is similar to the Third Way and social democracy in providing a moderate stance between capitalism and socialism, there are a few key differences:
Collective bargaining practices can also vary in social market economies: in Canada, trade unions still negotiate with individual companies (with limited government intervention), while in some European nations it is done on a national level between employer’s organizations and worker’s groups. Источник  Кувейт – уникальная страна на севере Восточной Аравии  Земли Туркменистана известны как равнинные пустыни |
) of economics, from the University of Freiburg (Freiburg in Breisgau, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg). Sent into exile by the Nazi regime, they developed the social market theory in response to fascism, seeing an open market was essential to democracy, but at the same time requiring the state to halt the emergence of social Darwinism (as it would threaten universal freedom). [3]