A recently published book written by several authors compares production to satisfy needs with the financialisation of the economy

 Producing genuine services and things. With a keen eye on efficiency, but also on the effects of the activities which every company conducts. It is the application of good corporate culture that makes factories and businesses not just entities that are disconnected from reality but indeed fundamental elements of successful cohabitation. These ideas are apparently endorsed and applicable but, nevertheless, they have been through some difficult times over the years. The financialisation of the economy and the ensuing “disconnection” of companies from the reality of needs have hit hard, and still today they fight for space and attention in the role of manufacturing.

Reading “Il capitale quotidiano. Un manifesto per l’economia fondamentale” (Everyday capital. A manifesto for the fundamental economy) written by several authors and co-ordinated by Filippo Barbera, Joselle Dagnes, Angelo Salento, Ferdinando Spina (sociologists from the Universities of Turin and Salento) will help you better understand how important it is to pay attention to the role of real production and especially to production that meets the fundamental needs of people regardless of their income such as food, healthcare, education, transport, energy, water and gas distribution, telecommunications and waste collection. These things are apparently simple, yet fundamental – in fact – for the creation and upkeep of a balanced society.

The authors immediately start by stating they have nothing against innovation and new technology but instead they convey a different way to look at the economy, focused more on people, on their real needs, on the ability to satisfy them. A far cry from major finance and pure monetary profit.

To explain all this, the book first considers the transformations that have led to the financialisation of the economy and then investigates its effects on companies. Subsequently, the authors take a closer look at the vicissitudes of segments of the economy that are linked to the fundamental needs of society, and then lay out the “self-defence” responses that have arisen as a reaction to the changes and lastly they set out a more organic action plan that will bring economic action closer to the social context.

A crucial part of the book explains: “The point is that, in reality, success is not governed by an intentional rationality but by a complex of actions within each context, but it is tied to circumstances, in other words to external conditions that are, in fact, contingent”. Which is just like saying: you need to take other factors beside the rationality of economic calculation into consideration. In other words, it is the unforeseen nature of how real things take place, but also, we add, the ability to react and the inventiveness of prudent entrepreneurs and attentive managers.

“Il capitale quotidiano” makes for a good read to learn about the existence of a different context in which companies can act.

Il capitale quotidiano. Un manifesto per l’economia fondamentale (Everyday capital. A manifesto for the fundamental economy)

Filippo Barbera, Joselle Dagnes, Angelo Salento, Ferdinando Spina (written by)

Donzelli, 2016