The social economy (SE) is a concept that can refer to two things. In the substantive approach, it refers to a mode of economic development that is more social and solidarity-focused than is the dominant economy. In the statutory approach, it refers to the set of enterprises and organizations that behave in ways that can contribute to such an economy. The SE is developing throughout the world, but at different speeds and in different institutional contexts. Although the definitions and scope of the SE share a common foundation, they vary from one country to another. Some countries produce statistics on the SE that are not consistent with those of other countries. In many countries, the SE remains entirely under the radar of statistical agencies. Various guides that cover subsets of the field have been produced to promote the production of statistics on the SE and to standardize them at the international level. Recently, one of these guides proposed a tool intended to cover the entire field. However, it excluded many cooperatives and included private for-profit entities. This has aroused a debate within the scientific community interested in statistics on the social economy. Using a comparative and international perspective, this article focuses on the rifts between different visions of the SE that are reflected in the statistical tools used to measure it.
The first section presents an overview of the interest public authorities have shown in producing statistics on the social economy over the last twenty years…