Research Unit Economic Institutions and the Common Good - CIVES

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Our research topics focus on production systems, their enterprises and organizations (including those within civil society), and collaboration between the public and private sectors, all sharing the goal of generating well-being, personal capabilities, and the common good. Recent applications include, among others, welfare services, cultural and educational sectors, and commons management. Since production methods reflect social norms, values, goals, and human behaviours, our research also explores the cooperative and associative nature of organizations, individuals' motivations and anthropological foundations, contractual conditions, and the personal and collective (including distributive) outcomes of economic activities.

Principal research topics and future objectives

We address relevant research topics in the following areas:

  • Enterprises, organizations, and production systems that foster vitality, personal capabilities, and the common good
  • The production of social value and its measurement 
  • Business diversity, mutuality, and sustainability
  • Economic democracy and participation within production systems and their organisations, including public-private collaborations, as an application of the capability approach; 
  • Governance (membership/ownership/industrial relations), contractual, value-based, and motivational aspects of work
  • Collective ownership and its relation with territories and institutions. Community self-management.
  • The evolution of production and enterprise systems over time and their effectiveness in generating well-being, capabilities, and the common good
  • Dynamics that sustain or hinder mutual help and cooperation in production organization
  • Future trajectories of the cooperative movement, including platform and data cooperatives
  • The study of inequalities
  • Micro-economic determinants of human, civic and social capital development
  • Evaluation of the impact of policies and programs on child development and socio-emotional
  • skills
  • Informal education, extra-curricular activities and adolescence wellbeing
  • Social norms in Country of origin and second-generation immigrants’ integration

A key methodological aspect of our work is fostering academic debate and mutual support among unit members and external colleagues. Planned activities include:

  • Thematic "development" or exploratory meetings (webinars)
  • Presentations of intermediate or final research results
  • Book and research report presentations
  • An annual poster session curated by the Unit

The Research Unit CIVES may also:

  • Develop and strengthen a national and international network of collaborations in this research area
  • Stimulate debate on its research topics among all interested stakeholders in academia and civil society (faculty, students, public and private actors in the Trentino region) at national and international levels
  • Promote educational initiatives, postgraduate training, and lifelong learning in its fields of study
  • Offer its expertise to institutions (Departments, Central University Bodies, Public Institutions, and private entities) for training and research activities
  • Support public dissemination of research to the general public

Dissemination

Please visit the webpages of individual members. 
An example of projects: 

  • The study of vitality in production systems: Applications to the cultural sector and its organizations

Link to research projects: https://vitalita-culturale-trentino.soc.unitn.it/
The research projects analyse how different types of associations contribute to the production and dissemination of a particular public good: culture. Conducted in Trentino, these projects engage organizations, their employees and volunteers, service users, and public administrations. The studies focus particularly on the music education system, artistically driven cultural festivals, and Trentino’s cultural volunteer federations (bands, clubs, choirs, and amateur theater groups). The projects provide an analysis of how economic and intangible resources are coordinated for cultural production, identifying areas of inertia and dynamism. They also examine the characteristics that sustain the motivation and vitality of those involved—teachers, artists, students, and volunteers. The projects approach cultural realities from the perspective of vitality, studying how economic institutions and organizations enable individuals to identify what they consider desirable and to generate ongoing activities that lead to fulfilling goals and reflect the common good (Sacchetti, 2023, 2025).An important methodological principle is to develop case studies for each context analyzed, using surveys, interviews (with leaders, teachers, artists, and volunteers), online materials, and corporate records. A key commitment of the projects is to ensure that findings are shared with the relevant communities in a mutually beneficial dialogue.

  • Telling the Collective Domains and Territories of Life for the Future of the “Terre Alte”

The project aims to tell a wide audience about the issue of collective Domains and Highlands Life Territories through numerous Trentino case studies analysed by professors and researchers of the University of Trento. The data base was drawn from 3 years (2022-2024) of interdisciplinary research (Cultural Studies). The survey methodology was applied to anthropology, economics and law. The research was also carried out with the help of masters degree students.

Cassa di Risparmio di Trento and Rovereto Foundation
Project funded on the basis of a Call for Proposals for Research
Proposing body: Slow Food Trentino Alto Adige
Partner:

  • University of Trento, Department of Sociology and Social Research - patron and co-organiser
  • UNESCO Club of Trento - patronage and co-financing
  • Sintesi Pedagogical and Cultural Association - Educational Museum - patronage and co-financing
  • Provincial ASUC Association of Trentino - patronage
  • ASUC of the individual territories involved - patronage
  • Municipalities of the individual territories involved - patronage

 

  • Itas Mutua - University of Trento interdepartmental - Seminars cycle.

It consists of a cycle of four seminars of 24 hours each and is part of the collaboration between Itas Mutua and Trento University. Topics include “Forms of enterprise, innovation and community development” (Department of Sociology and Social Research), “The mutual enterprise” (Faculty of Law), “Insurance and finance” (Department of Economics), “Artificial intelligence, sustainable development and ethics of cooperation” (Interdepartmental, tbc).

Upcoming events

 

past events

Seminar:

Un'altra finanza. Oltre la finanza pubblica e speculativa

7 Ottobre 2025 , ore 16:30 - Aula Kessler
Presentazione del volume
Alberto Ianes, Una Banca fondata sul bene comune. Cassa Centrale Banca. Credito Cooperativo Italiano (1974-2024), Milano: Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli

Esiste un modello alternativo alla finanza capitalistica, esiste un modo di fare banca che coniuga il principio della solidità con la vocazione a generare ricadute positive sulle comunità e sui territori. È l’approccio del credito cooperativo, esemplarmente incarnato dalla storia di Cassa Centrale Banca, un’istituzione che festeggia cinquant’anni di storia. Dalla sua fondazione nel 1974, da parte delle 133 Casse Rurali allora operanti in Trentino, Cassa Centrale è assurta nel tempo al ruolo di protagonista di rilievo nel panorama bancario italiano.
Un’esperienza di grande significato nell’evoluzione economica e sociale, prima del Trentino e poi dell’intero Paese, maturata grazie alle relazioni che nel tempo ha costruito con le Casse Rurali e le Banche di Credito Cooperativo, dando vita a una rete di solidarietà e cooperazione che ha permesso di sostenere e far crescere intere comunità locali.
Questo volume raccoglie il viaggio di un’istituzione che ha saputo mettere al centro il bene comune. Un racconto che parla del passato e guarda dritto al futuro, dimostrando che un’economia basata sulla solidarietà può essere il motore di un successo duraturo.

who we are

Coordinatrice: Prof.ssa Silvia Sacchetti, Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, e-mail silvia.sacchetti@unitn.it
Professoressa ordinaria

Members

The lecturers of the Department of Sociology and Social Research belonging to the Research Unit ‘Economic Institutions and the Common Good’ - CIVES are:

Other Members

Members of Other Departments

  • Prof. Ermanno Tortia, Università di Trento, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), e-mail ermanno.tortia@unitn.it
  • Prof. Massimiliano Vatiero, Università di Trento niTrento, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), e-mail massimiliano.vatiero@unitn.it
  • Dr Nadia Laura von Jacobi, Università di Trento, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), e-mail nadia.vonjacobi@unitn.it
  • Dr Matteo Gaudiello,  Università di Trento, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), e-mail matteo.gaudiello@unitn.it 

Members of Other Universities