Since its inception in 1986, CIRIEC-Spain has been conducting numerous studies and statistical reports on the social economy, from the distant and pioneering White Paper on the Social Economy in Spain (1992) to the report The Social Economy in Spain in Figures (2021). To mention just a few, it is worth highlighting the first Satellite Accounts of the Social Economy in Spain (1994, contract with the European Commission), Satellite Accounts of Cooperatives and Labour Societies in various years, Handbook on satellite accounts for cooperatives and mutual benefit societies (2006, European Commission), The Key Figures of the Social Economy in Spain (2010, ONCE Foundation), Satellite Accounts of cooperatives and mutual benefit societies in Spain (2009, INE), Satellite Accounts for private foundations serving households and Social Works of the Savings Banks (2011, FUNCAS), the Reports on the Social Economy in the European Union (European Economic and Social Committee, 2008, 2012, and 2017), Satellite Accounts for people with disabilities in Spain (2015, ONCE Foundation), The Special Employment Centers in Spain (2014, ONCE Foundation), and many others. Alongside these studies, the regional partners of CIRIEC-Spain, integrated into its ENUIES Network of institutes and research centers from 12 Spanish universities, have conducted numerous reports and White Papers on the Social Economy of various Autonomous Communities. All these studies share a methodology and a common concept of the Social Economy.
This concept of the social economy is widely agreed upon by various institutions of the European Union, representative organizations of cooperatives, mutual benefit societies, associations, foundations, associative base companies, and unique entities, as well as by the scientific community. A concept that aligns with the one established in Spain by Law 5/2011 of March 29 on the Social Economy. This delineation of the Social Economy at the national and European levels is what makes it possible to successfully implement a system for the collection and production of Social Economy statistics with homogeneous methodological criteria, in accordance with the European System of Accounts and the United Nations System of National Accounts (ESA-2010 and SNA-2008), allowing the production of reliable and precise intertemporal, interregional, and international comparative analyses on companies and entities of the Social Economy. And this system of collection and production of statistics on the Social Economy is not only possible but also necessary to surpass the current level of heterogeneous, scarce, dispersed, and discontinuous statistical information on the Social Economy.
And that is the main goal of this statistical portal, CIRIECSTAT, to implement a system for the collection and production of Social Economy statistics, in a repository and later in a database, that compiles, refines, and publishes on a unique portal, permanently and continuously, with the methodological criteria of national accounting, homogeneous and comparable, the different statistics of the Social Economy in Spain.
Adoración Mozas
José Luis Monzón