Linear economy, civil economy and circular economy: education as a catalyst for transition

Many people today are raising the issue of sustainable development in the face of the danger of an ecological crisis. The economic, social and cultural evolution poses questions to which each of us is called to respond by reflecting on what are the emergencies of the planet, but at the same time to operate for the protection of health and the reduction of environmental damage. The natural disasters that have occurred in recent years lead us to reflect on the responsibility not only of man, but also the social responsibility of governments. So we ask ourselves: is it possible to achieve a green economy model? A famous economist has already mapped out a path to a non-violent economy, based on a model of accountability. This model states that every discovery must be evaluated by civil society, taking into account the balance between the resources used and the results obtained. To achieve a sustainable green economy, it will be essential to build a biodemocracy in which scientific options are widely supported and accepted.

Is Relationality Always Other-Oriented? Adam Smith, Catholic Social Teaching, and Civil Economy

Recent studies have investigated connections between Adam Smith’s economic and philosophical ideas and Catholic Social Teaching (CST). Scholars argue that their common background lies in their respective anthropologies, both endorsing a relational view of human beings. I raise one main concern regarding these analyses. I suggest that the relationality endorsed by Smith lacks a central element present in CST—the other-oriented perspective which is the intentional concern for promoting the good of others. Some key elements of CST, such as love, gift, gratuitousness, and fraternity, find a very different space in Smith’s social view and very little space in his economic view. Moreover, I show how CST relationality is more in accordance with a civil economy view of the market as a place of fraternity and mutual assistance.

Revisiting Keynes in the Light of the Transition to Circular Economy

The study briefly recalls the evolution and crisis of the theory and thought of John Maynard Keynes with the rise and progressive dominance of the neoliberalism paradigm. The exercise has been made for evaluating the effects of such process for the sustainability of the global economy and society. In this view, we explored how Keynes’ contribution could be useful for the global economy in building a new paradigm of socio-economic development underpinning the transition to circular economy (CE). We also evaluated the adoption of the Global Green New Deal including a case study of Italy for the purpose of suggesting how that topical political programme can be key in the CE transition. Given the urgency of environmental problems, we underline the importance of the adoption of Keynesian expansionary “green mission oriented” fiscal policies with the purpose of allowing the triggering of a virtuous circle of sustainable welfare involving the Green New deal and the transition to CE. At the basis of such virtuous circle, we propose a new paradigm based on a revisited Keynesian paradigm and models of economy within the framework of Genovesi’s “civil economy” that entails an active role and responsibility of all the societal actors (consumers, companies and institutions). In this view, the “spirit” of Keynes in the economy, policy and society could be appreciated once more and be extremely useful along with other scholars’ contributions in accelerating the CE transition and a more sustainable development.

THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS IN ROBERT MICHELS BETWEEN BENTHAMIAN UTILITARIANISM AND CIVIL ECONOMY

The paper thematizes the problematic relationship between economy and happiness covered by economist Robert Michels (1876-1936) in his book “The Economics of Happiness” written in 1918. In this book Michels, as a true frontier scholar, provides, well in advance of the acquisitions of the modern “science of happiness”, an interdisciplinary reading of the different determinants of happiness and of their interactions, courageously refuting the monistic and reductionist paradigm of neoclassical economy dominant in his epoch. The hedonistic conception of happiness conceived by Michels echoes that formulated by Jeremy Bentham, but Michels, unlike the Utilitarians of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, gives it an unexpected twist, by postulating heretically that happiness is the ultimate goal of economy and that wealth is only a means to achieve it. In establishing the primacy of happiness as the main purpose of economic activity, Michels follows in the footsteps of Neapolitan and Milanese Civil Economists of Enlightenment with whom he had other theoretical points of consonance which the paper highlights. However Michels’ conception of happiness differs from Civil Economists’ notion because it is primarily based on individual pleasure and not on relational goods, because it is disconnected from those components of gratuitousness which are immanent to sincere relational goods, because it is detached from the search for Common Good. Finally the paper illustrates the multidimensional and innovative public policies which Michels suggests for the achievement of happiness by invoking a wide range of integrated interventions to be carried out by the State and by the workers’ unions. Keywords: Happiness Economics, Benthamian Utilitarianism, Civil Economy