(c) Image credit: Guillermo Vuljevas/Unsplash
The Uruguay Chapter of the Economy for the Common Good (Economía del Bien Común, EBC) met online to discuss how to promote the alternative economic model in the country to change the rules of the game.
The meeting had several speakers, among them Gualberto Trelles, coordinator in Uruguay of the EBC, founding member of the Uruguayan Business Council of System B (Consejo Empresarial Uruguay del Sistema B) and president of the Association of Chemical Engineers (Asociación de Ingenieros Químicos). Trelles told the story of Margaret Douglas and her son, the famous Adam Smith. He recalled the famous words Smith used to explain how food ends up on our table, a question that, silly as it may sound, represents a substantial part of his thinking. “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.” This misconception underpins the idea of the homo oeconomicus, an archetypal person who ignores what Trelles argues are the foundations of our life, our interactions with others, with nature and the rest of living beings.
The panel also included Ingrid Rasmussen and Andrea de Nigris, who presented the specific tools of the ECB, Andrea Rígoli, who presented ideas on the creation of the Uruguay Chapter and its relationship with the rest of the international organization, Luciana Cornaglia and Thilo Schmit, who shared what is being done in the region, and Federico Mesa, who recounted the experience of Entre Bichitos, the first Uruguayan enterprise to take stock of the common good. The presentation can be found in full on the EBC Uruguay YouTube channel.
Read the full article (in Spanish) on La Diaria Economía.
