The social economy can revitalise the development model

There is a distinction, proposed by the philosopher John Searle, which helps to grasp what is really at stake in the first National Plan for the Social Economy, published in the press release of 2 July 2026. Searle distinguished between regulative rules, which govern what already exists, and constitutive rules, which bring about something that did not exist before: the former govern a game, the latter create it. This is the ambition of the Plan now being introduced in our country: not a mechanism to facilitate or promote, but to break the deadlock and bring about new developments.

What is at stake? Nothing less than the model of development. Not development as mere growth, as an increase in the exchange of goods and services, but as that mechanism capable of removing the ‘obstacles’ – the barriers that stifle cooperation and the sharing of value. What Edgar Morin taught about life also applies to development: anything that does not regenerate, degenerates. Development that ceases to regenerate its own sources – whether communal, relational or ecological – does not grow: it consumes itself. It is here that the social economy plays its most valuable role, as the regenerative principle of the development model, not as a corrective appendage to it.

For too long, the social economy – despite accounting for over 8 per cent of businesses and 1.5 million employees – has been confined to a residual and remedial sphere, called upon at best to redistribute value produced elsewhere, or worse, to put the icing on the cake. The real challenge is to recognise it for what it is: a key player that helps to bake the cake.

A decree was expected; instead, an information note was issued. It is not quite the same thing, but its significance remains considerable, serving as a clear indicator of the capacity of social economy organisations to generate social and environmental value, thereby fulfilling a pre-distributive function. This is a valuable function in an era in which growth has become detached from prosperity. This is illustrated by the data from the Bank of Italia’s 2025 Annual Report: whilst the financial assets of Italian households grew by 7.4 per cent over the year, the share of wealth held by households headed by people under 36 fell from 16 per cent to 6 per cent in just over thirty years. These facts, to be addressed properly, call not only for new solutions, but above all for new institutions. New rules of the game.

This is the value of the social economy: not a rigid framework to be followed, but one capable of opening up and connecting with social, digital, manufacturing, urban and healthcare systems, thereby creating more inclusive economies. It is the realisation of the inclusive economy – one that counters extractive models of value creation, those that exploit local areas only to drain them of their resources and relocate their wealth. On the contrary, we need to retain value within local communities and to hold value and values together: those bonds, those mechanisms of reciprocity that a vision focused entirely on efficiency has allowed to wither away. It is an economy nourished by gift-giving, mutual aid, social production and relationships: elements that for decades we have relegated to the margins of the ‘real’ balance sheet, and which today are once again recognised for what they are: mechanisms that generate value. Not the residue of the economy, but its most fertile source.