Economy & Commons
The alternative economic models that are already working.
Explore on the map: the Mondragon Group
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GDP Doesn't Measure Wellbeing: Amsterdam Replaced It — and 100 Cities Followed
In April 2020, during lockdown, Amsterdam adopted a new economic framework: doughnut economics. A 21-dimension compass that measures whether an economy is genuinely healthy — neither too little, nor too much.
Read article →Porto Alegre, 1989: When Residents Decided Where Public Money Went
In 1989, a Brazilian city handed part of its budget directly to residents. Within a decade: running water in 98% of homes, health budget tripled, infant mortality down 20%. Since then, 11,500 cities have followed.
Read article →Universal Basic Income: What 40 Years of Data Actually Tell Us
From Alaska to Finland, through Stockton and Kenya, six rigorously documented experiments contradict the myth of dependency. Recipients work more, invest more, and do better.
Read article →France's Social and Solidarity Economy: A Quiet Transformation Already Underway
The Social and Solidarity Economy accounts for 10% of French employment and brings together 2.6 million people. From cooperatives to mutual health insurers, the economic alternative isn't a utopia — it's already a discreet pillar of the French economy.
Read article →"There Is No Alternative" — The Evidence That Alternatives Already Exist
280 million people work in cooperatives. Three basic income experiments have documented their effects. Amsterdam changed its economic compass. The WIR Bank has been financing Swiss SMEs since 1934. Here is the data.
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Briefs
The Eusko, Europe's leading local currency, exceeds 6.5 million transactions
With 4.4 million euskos in circulation and 6.5 million transactions in 2024, the local currency of the French Basque Country stands as Europe's largest — and a real-world laboratory for short supply chains.
Read →743 citizen cooperatives: Europe builds its democratic energy network
REScoop.eu, the European federation of citizen energy cooperatives, brings together 743 member organisations in more than 28 countries. These structures allow ordinary citizens to become co-owners of their local renewable energy production.
Read →Having a purpose beyond profit makes companies more resilient
A B Lab Europe study covering 7 European countries shows that between 2019 and 2022, 76% of certified B Corp companies recorded revenue growth, compared to 60% of non-certified companies. During the COVID crisis, they were more likely to maintain their activity.
Read →Universal basic income in Kenya: 200 villages, no evidence of idleness
Preliminary results from the world's largest study on universal basic income, published in December 2023 by GiveDirectly, show no disincentive effect on work: recipients invest more, become more entrepreneurial and earn more.
Read →280 million jobs, 3 million businesses: cooperatives, a quietly global model
According to the World Cooperative Monitor 2025 of the International Cooperative Alliance, 280 million people — 10% of the world's active population — work in a cooperative. One billion people are members. This alternative economic model is in fact one of the most widespread on Earth.
Read →Doughnut economics: from academic idea to 50 cities in five years
By April 2025, more than 50 local authorities around the world had integrated doughnut economics into their policies. This conceptual framework — proposed by Kate Raworth in 2012 — is moving out of books and into city plans.
Read →Circular economy in Europe: 12.2% achieved, 24% targeted by 2030
In 2024, 12.2% of materials consumed in Europe came from recycling or reuse. The EU's objective is to reach 24% by 2030. The European Environment Agency warns: without a major acceleration, the EU will not meet the target.
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