The Japanese version of the “Economy for the Common Good” book written by its founder Christian Felber, was published in December 2022. Following a successful virtual launch in January 2023, a follow-up event was set up due to the public’s interest, now in an innovative format known as “Active Book Dialogue”.

The Economy for the Common Good (ECG)

The ECG is an economic model put forward by Christian Felber. It presents an ethical market economy based upon four pillars: human dignity; solidarity and social justice; environmental sustainability; transparency and codetermination. The system based on capitalism aims to acquire profit through competition, at the people and the planet’s expense, therefore contributing and causing serious environmental and social crises. The ECG aims to build a sustainable society and market where people and planet thrive through mutual respect and cooperation. Franz Alt, a well-known German environmental journalist, describes the Economy for the Common Good as “a practical third way between socialism and capitalism”.

Far from being just a theory, the ECG has spread all over the world in the last 10 years, with a especially strong presence in Europe. Nowadays, more than 3,000 companies and organisations subscribe to the Common Good idea. Participation and practice at the local government and individual levels keeps increasing. The movement has developed and tested concrete and practical management evaluation tools that are in deep resonance and compliance with the SDGs, such as the Common Good Balance Sheet and the Common Good Product.

Active Book Dialogue

To commemorate the publication of the book, a second dialogue session will be held in the style of Active Book Dialogue with the facilitator Hiroyuki Egami, Representative Director of URUU Co., Ltd. and Mr. Noriaki Ikeda, who was in charge of the Japanese translation. Participation is open and free, but you must have a copy of “The Economy for the Common Good” at hand. It’s not necessary to have read it prior to the event.

Each person will be assigned a section of 10-20 pages, and will spend 40-50 minutes summarizing it. Then, they’ll have 2 minutes to present the contents. After the whole book has been covered, there will be an open space for questions and discussion.

15 February, 2023, 20:00 (local time)

More about the Japanese version launch or more information (in Japanese)