Impacto socioeconómico de las empresas de Economía Social en España. Una valoración cuantitativa de sus efectos sobre la cohesión social.

To assess the political, economic and social value of the social economy, it is essential to arrive at a correct measurement of its impact on society as a whole. The contribution made by the intrinsic values that differentiate the social economy surpasses the economic sphere and enters into that of social utility, associated with the guiding principles of these companies. This paper offers a quantitative measurement and monetary valuation of the differentiating effects of social economy enterprises, making it possible to estimate the impact of their activity on social cohesion in Spain. The results indicate that the total benefits these enterprises contributed to social cohesion in 2009 exceeded 3400 million euros. The main beneficiaries were their own workforce, who received 2260 million euros annually in net wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]