Vatican Radio - 16/06/2010

Written by Antonella Ferrucci Thursday, 17 June 2010 17:01

Interview with Luigino Bruni on Vatican Radio, June 16, 2010.

May businesses be social

Can the social entrepreneur, remembered in Benedict XVI´s Caritas in Veritate, be a model for how to go beyond the economic crisis? On ONE-O-FIVE LIVE, Vatican Radio´s live program, Prof. Luigino Bruni gives his reflections. Bruni is professor of political economy at the University of Milano-Bicocca, professor at Sophia University Institute of the Focolare Movement in Loppiano (Florence, Italy) and coordinator of the International Commission of the "Economy of Communion". Tomorrow, in Incisa Valdarno (Florence), the Preparatory Seminar for the 46th Social Week of Italian Catholics will be held on these topics.

Social enterprise is one of the great innovations of the last twenty years in Italy because it arises from an intuition that, to me, is fundamental: that is, a business is truly social when it includes those who are outside of it, when it is capable of making protagonists out of marginal or excluded realities, for mutual benefit. After all, when the social enterprise arises in the 1990s, it does this: subjects that are excluded from the productive system, with hardships or forms of handicap, are then included, and this inclusion leads to development. Today the term "social enterprise", or social business, is meant in the widest sense. It is not used only to describe a social cooperative, but any kind of business that is truly constructive of the common good, because it places the person at the center.

Avvenire - 11/06/2010

Written by Andrea Galli Friday, 11 June 2010 10:52

The abuse of the "gross domestic product" reveals the alienating essence of capitalism. An antidote? The teachings of the Gospel. Geminello Alvi´s provocations raise debate

But salvation does not come from the GDP

By Andrea Galli
Published in Avvenire on 11/06/2010

"For years, any kind of universal happiness was made to depend on newspapers and the consensus of economists, on the nasal and muttering voice of Greenspan, while he dissertated on tenths of percents of GDP. But last year, this insistent relishing ended up as we know: with a collapse of the GDP which brought the world back into a Depression, as never experienced since the 1930s". This is how Geminello Alvi opens his presentation in the latest issue of Equilibri, a journal in favor of sustainable development, published quarterly by Mulino and dedicated to a topic that has come back in the last few years and is accomplice to the crisis. The question? Whether the Gross Domestic Product - the most successful economic political indicator from post-World War II to today and whose strength of coercion on global economic politics remains crushing - is adequate or not. Just nine months ago, the "Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress", coordinated by Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, handed over its report to Nicolas sarkosy. This was one the most explicit acts towards finding different evaluation parameters of the economic status of countries and societies - parameters that are, at the same time, capable of offering a way out of the "religion of the number", as the French president has called it.

La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno - 3/05/2010

Written by Gino Dato Tuesday, 04 May 2010 21:37

A conversation with Luigino Bruni, political economist

The Market Changes the Soul (or it sells it)

By Gino Dato

Published in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (The Midday Gazette) on 3/05/2010

"In the last two centuries, it has reached extraordinary economic, technological and civil results...but today it has become obsolete." We´re talking with Luigino Bruni, professor of political economy at the University of Milano-Bicocca, about capitalism and it´s present and future fate. In fact, in the past, it made us freer individuals and more equal amongst one another, but it no longer raises peoples´well-being along with the increments in goods production. Where the "scarce good" marks the relationship with others and the environment, the god of goods no longer deserves to be adored and is affecting society. Bruni´s courageous writing, The Ethos of the Market (Bruno Modadori, ed.), covers the relationship between capitalism and ethics.

You say that capitalism has made us freer and more equal. What does that mean? 
"It´s enough to look at Medieval civilization to realize the difference (and therefore the inequality) between the life expectations of a serf´s son and the son of a feudal lord. They were not equal in these expectations. This happens in a feudal society, with a very low level of civilization, in which the relationships between persons were "relationships of power". It was the same in the market, in politics, in culture...".

The Market Changes the Soul (or sells it)

Avvenire - 21/04/2010

Written by Luca Miele Wednesday, 21 April 2010 13:25

A book by Luigino Bruni on the social foundations of the economy

Doing business? Before everything, it´s a question of fraternity

By Luca Miele
Published in Avvenire on 21/04/2010

What nexus links market and community? Does the first establish or amputate the second, guarantee it´s survival or betray its fundamental vocation? And still: where does the individual - whose "birth" is one of the great contributions of modern times - belong in respect to the market and the community? Luigino Bruni in the book Ethos of the Market (Bruno Mondadore, pp.240, 18 Euro) searches the anthropological foundations of the economy, borrowing the theoretical system that supports his investigation from studies by Roberto Esposito. "The munus that the communitas shares," writes Esposito in Communitas, "is neither property nor a belonging. It is not having, but on the contrary, is a debt, a pledge, a gift-to-give. The subjects in a community are united by a 'responsibility' that makes them not entirely masters of themselves. More precisely, it expropriates them from their initial ownership - it is worth saying - from their subjectivity."

Il Sole 24 ore - 03/04/2010

Written by Paolo Bricco Thursday, 08 April 2010 21:55

The double entry. A small town with 25 companies that take on the challenge of uniting business with person-centeredness.

If profit goes (partially) to the poor

In Incisa in Val d´Arno, among the businesses of the Focolare: a third of the profits given to those with less

By Paolo Bricco

Published in Sole 24 ore on April 3, 2010

A woman nervously continued to turn herself around and look behind her. One, two, three, ten times a day. The others did not understand what she had. They thought it was a nervous tick. She had worked in the factories of third-party textile goods and footwear manufacturers for a lifetime, here in Val d´Arno. "I couldn´t explain myself," Emanuela Camisciotto says today, "because in the new business where I had ended up, the department head wasn´t always at our backs with a stopwatch, calculating how much time it was taking us to finish sewing an item. And I almost, almost wasn´t even able to understand why they didn´t insult me. For me, that was normal. It had always been like that. Here, they asked me, 'Please, can you do this? Please, can you do that?'" Smiling, she concludes, "Now, I don´t look behind me anymore."

The Tablet - 13/03/2010

Written by Daniel Finn Monday, 05 April 2010 16:35

There is no translation available

Catholic ethics in public life

Benedict's third way

By Daniel Finn
Published on The Tablet 13 march 2010

When the bishops of England and Wales issued their pre-election statement, 'Choosing the Common Good', last week, they cited the Pope's encyclical Caritas in Veritate as highly relevant to efforts to rethink economic life after the recent financial crisis. But what lies behind it?

Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, Caritas in Veritate received kudos from nearly all quarters when it appeared last summer. However, little has been said about the economics in the document, and in particular about what strains or schools of economic thought the Pope was relying upon. This issue becomes more important when we recognise that Benedict's view of economic life marks a significant evolution in papal thought.

Il Sole 24 ore - 25/03/2010

Written by Gianfranco Fabi Thursday, 25 March 2010 12:37

From Gianfranco Fabi´s Blog on Sole24Ore, the review of Luigino Bruni´s latest book

 

A Breath of Ethos that Gives Life to the Free Market 

By Gianfranco Fabi

Published on Sole 24 Ore 25/03/2010

 

The concept of market spans over the entire history of economic thought. In the third century before Christ, Aristotle presents the first analytical indications on the importance of exchange, business, money and the division of labor. With Thomas Aquinas, we´re presented with the first meritorious assessments that are significantly open, for that time, to the legitimacy of interest on loans, surpassing the traditional condemnation of usury.

But it is with classic economics, and especially with Adam Smith, that the market becomes such an important foundation for the economic reality, an instrument of expression of freedom of producers and consumers. What particularly comes into relief is the "invisible hand" capable of transforming the persuit of individual interests in the progressive conquest of an always better collective well-being.

 

 

Business People - 03/2010

Written by Chiara Munafò Wednesday, 10 March 2010 23:38

A Trip to the Most Original Industrial Park in Existence

The 33% Rule

By Chiara Munafò

Published in Business People 03/2010

 

It is the law of the Economy of Communion, invented by Chiara Lubich. Near Florence, there is a business center that, believe us, divides their profits into three equal parts: for reinvestment, for charity and for formation. Let´s see if it actually works. 

Do you want your business to grow? Allot a third of your profits to the poor, a third as reinvestment in your business and a third to formation of a new humanity. 
It is the rule of the Economy of Communion (EoC), a business model thought of by Chiara Lubich - the same woman who founded the Focolare Movement - and which is applied at Loppiano, in the province of Florence. 

Il Sole 24 ore - 18/02/2010

Written by Francesco Gaeta Friday, 19 February 2010 18:56

There is no translation available

Oltre il profitto:  Adam Smith ai tempi dei bonus

di Francesco Gaeta
pubblicato sul Sole 24 ore il 18/02/2010

«Se 20 anni fa un allievo fosse venuto all'esame a dirmi che fine dell'impresa è realizzare profitto non avrebbe avuto la seconda domanda. Oggi invece, in molti atenei, va avanti fino al 30 cum laude». Giulio Sapelli, vecchia guardia olivettiana al servizio dell'accademia (università di Milano), la mette giù così per spiegare quel che è accaduto negli ultimi due decenni circa il nesso tra obiettivi e strumenti d'impresa.

Uno smottamento semantico che ha confuso il fine - migliorare la qualità della vita producendo beni e distribuendo reddito - con il mezzo, ovvero tingere di nero l'ultima voce di bilancio. Un ribaltamento diventato frana in cui, a sentir lui, sono state trascinate multinazionali e società di rating, e perfino governi e banche centrali. L'invisibile pifferaio magico che ne ha guidato la danza ha lasciato cadere dietro di sé parole come merito, bonus, competizione, concorrenza. Fino al ciglio di un burrone che ci riguarda tutti.

Avvenire - 02/02/2010

Written by Marco Girardo Tuesday, 02 February 2010 13:25

The economist: when problems are temporary, businesses cannot socialize losses. Firing workers is the easiest way to cut costs, but it´s not the only way

Bruni: against the crisis, businesses that are more responsible

Today, defending work means "reaffirming the personalistic principle", reaffirming that "at the heart of every economic systems rests the person and work". Even in the crisis in which "technology becomes pervasive and capital always more inmaterial", so much so that it sanctions the domination of techno-finance over the real economy. This is why Luigino Bruni, professor of Political Economy at the University of Bicocca at Milano, finds words to defend the message given by Benedict XVI in the Angeles to be "perfectly in line with the concreteness of his teaching" and "important in the crisis phase which we are now going through".

The Pope gave encouragement to "do everything possible to safeguard and increase employment". Why, as an economist, do you see this appeal as being in line with Benedict XVI´s thought?

The Pope went into details. He cited two concrete cases, "two difficult realities" in Italy: Termini and Portovesme. Are you surprised by this concreteness?