The different economy of Francesco
21 EoF stories, among thousands, now collected in a book
A different economy, yet an all-comprehensive one, encompassing enterprises, markets, development and growth, but with no exploitation or self-profit. This is what The Economy of Francesco (EoF) movement is all about, whose now regular events involve thousands of young people directly invited by Pope Francis to revamp the way in which we conceive and live the economy, through the wonderful means of narration. And these stories – some of them, at least – have now been collected in a book entitled The economy of Francesco. Il racconto dei protagonisti per una nuova economia (The economy of Francesco. The story of the protagonists for a new economy), collaboratively curated by Maria Giaglione and Marco Girardo with a precise goal: to render a sense of adventure made of ideals, experiences, tangible proposals and no ideologies.
Thus, the protagonists of this book are EoF young people and, above all, their individual stories, unfolding over the past two years, in view of a global summit in Assisi. The works includes 21 chapters (better described as stories) representing 3,000 young people from 115 countries across the world, and in just under 100 gripping pages, it really encompasses a bit of everything. Stories of economists, entrepreneurs and change-makers, as Luigino Bruni writes in his foreword, pointing out that, “It really feels like reading One thousand and one nights, as here, too, each story ends at the beginning of the next one.”
Subdivided in the book as “stories from the first year” and “stories from the second year” (some of the latter penned by writers from the Avvenire newspaper), these are individual narrations that perfectly describe a different economy than the traditional one and thus outline, too, an unexpected corporate culture in which closing the ledgers is not purely a question of arithmetic. Hence, to give some examples, we read about plantations mindful of workers and the environment, the challenge of microcredit in Africa, start-ups supporting the homeless, the importance of training and education as a response to growing inequality, the inclusion of ethics in American industry, how much diplomatic and financial relations could (if one wanted to) impact the energy transition, and much more.
Commenting on this collection, Maria Giaglione writes that EoF is an “eco-system of people and relationships, born of our times to alert us that there is still hope.” While, taking a different viewpoint, Marco Girardo tells us that EoF “interweaves stories from different places, concrete accounts and converging visions (…) in order to narrate itself and also how we can devise a more comprehensive way to conceive the economy and thus human development.” All this driven by the power of narrative, and though we might end up disagreeing with or even doubting some of these stories, we should nonetheless read them all – that’s the significance of this slim volume curated by Gaglione and Girardo.
The economy of Francesco. Il racconto dei protagonisti per una nuova economia (The economy of Francesco. The story of the protagonists for a new economy)
Maria Gaglione, Marco Girardo (curated by)
Avvenire/Vita e Pensiero, 2022
21 EoF stories, among thousands, now collected in a book
A different economy, yet an all-comprehensive one, encompassing enterprises, markets, development and growth, but with no exploitation or self-profit. This is what The Economy of Francesco (EoF) movement is all about, whose now regular events involve thousands of young people directly invited by Pope Francis to revamp the way in which we conceive and live the economy, through the wonderful means of narration. And these stories – some of them, at least – have now been collected in a book entitled The economy of Francesco. Il racconto dei protagonisti per una nuova economia (The economy of Francesco. The story of the protagonists for a new economy), collaboratively curated by Maria Giaglione and Marco Girardo with a precise goal: to render a sense of adventure made of ideals, experiences, tangible proposals and no ideologies.
Thus, the protagonists of this book are EoF young people and, above all, their individual stories, unfolding over the past two years, in view of a global summit in Assisi. The works includes 21 chapters (better described as stories) representing 3,000 young people from 115 countries across the world, and in just under 100 gripping pages, it really encompasses a bit of everything. Stories of economists, entrepreneurs and change-makers, as Luigino Bruni writes in his foreword, pointing out that, “It really feels like reading One thousand and one nights, as here, too, each story ends at the beginning of the next one.”
Subdivided in the book as “stories from the first year” and “stories from the second year” (some of the latter penned by writers from the Avvenire newspaper), these are individual narrations that perfectly describe a different economy than the traditional one and thus outline, too, an unexpected corporate culture in which closing the ledgers is not purely a question of arithmetic. Hence, to give some examples, we read about plantations mindful of workers and the environment, the challenge of microcredit in Africa, start-ups supporting the homeless, the importance of training and education as a response to growing inequality, the inclusion of ethics in American industry, how much diplomatic and financial relations could (if one wanted to) impact the energy transition, and much more.
Commenting on this collection, Maria Giaglione writes that EoF is an “eco-system of people and relationships, born of our times to alert us that there is still hope.” While, taking a different viewpoint, Marco Girardo tells us that EoF “interweaves stories from different places, concrete accounts and converging visions (…) in order to narrate itself and also how we can devise a more comprehensive way to conceive the economy and thus human development.” All this driven by the power of narrative, and though we might end up disagreeing with or even doubting some of these stories, we should nonetheless read them all – that’s the significance of this slim volume curated by Gaglione and Girardo.
The economy of Francesco. Il racconto dei protagonisti per una nuova economia (The economy of Francesco. The story of the protagonists for a new economy)
Maria Gaglione, Marco Girardo (curated by)
Avvenire/Vita e Pensiero, 2022