Economy for the Common Good is a social movement advocating for an alternative economic model.  It calls for working towards the common good and cooperation instead of profit-orientation and competition, which lead to greed and uncontrolled growth.

Christian Felber coined the term in his book Die Gemeinwohl-Ökonomie – Das Wirtschaftsmodell der Zukunft, published in 2010. According to Felber, it makes much more sense for companies to create a so-called “common good balance sheet” than a financial balance sheet.

The common good balance sheet shows the extent to which a company abides by values like human dignity, solidarity and economic sustainability.  Over 1200 companies actively support the concept of Economy for the Common Good and a few hundred of them have committed to creating the common good balance sheet.  These include Sparda-Bank Munich, the Rhomberg Group and Vaude Outdoor.

According to proponents of the movement, the success of a company should not be determined by how much profit it makes, but rather by the degree to which it contributes to the common good.  Companies receive more points in this balance sheet when, for example, employees are satisfied with their jobs or when the top managers do not receive exorbitantly more than the lowest paid worker.  Head to www.ecogood.org/en for more information.

Extract from various sources on the Economy for the Common Good, 10 February 2016