The 18th Sustainable Development Goal: Social Entrepreneurship in a global society

G.J.A. Hummels

No 18-01, Working Papers from Utrecht School of Economics

Abstract: This discussion paper aims to better understand what social entrepreneurship means and how it contributes to overcoming some of the greatest social and environmental challenges of our times. Based on the work of Sen and Nussbaum, the idea basic human needs – and more in particular, the idea of increasing capabilities to fulfil these needs – creates a reference point to determine the meaning of ‘social’. Apart from reinforcing these capabilities, an important dimension of ‘socialness’ is the extent to which the beneficiaries confirm that they are in a better position to fulfil these basic needs. The 18th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) deals with the improved set of capabilities. In order to contribute to the grand challenges of our times – as expressed in the 17 existing SDGs – certain conditions in terms of innovation, scalability, and (financial) sustainability have to be met. It will require that corporations, cooperatives, large business networks and institutional investors step in and promote socially entrepreneurial initiatives to contribute to the radical change needed to fulfil the basic needs of individuals and communities. Only then will human development and a life with human dignity be able to materialize.

Keywords: Local labour markets; Urban wage premium; Employment; Commuting; Regional aggregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-env and nep-hme
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/369840/18_01.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:use:tkiwps:1801

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Utrecht School of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Marina Muilwijk ().