This book proposes from a civil perspective -such as that developed by Stefano Zamagni- and a
cordial perspective -such as that developed by Adela Cortina- orientations to design an
economy in tune with what the historical moment demands. Among other things this comes from
encouraging institutions organisations and companies to include in their designs aspects as
important for carrying out their activities as cordial reciprocity mutual recognition of the
communicative and affective capacities of the linked or linkable parties public commitment and
the active participation of civil society.The book first shows the conceptualisation of the
process of self-interest as operating for one's own benefit and its inclusion in the orthodox
economic model. In Chapter 2 it then displays some of the logical formal and experimental
limits of the axiomatic economics model to discover the possibility of building bridges between
theoretical modelling and factual validation. Chapter3 demonstrates the fragility of a
rationality model based on the paradigmatic figure of homo oeconomicus. Chapter 4 reflects on
the critical process that has identified reciprocity as a determining factor for human
cooperation turning this behaviour into a paradox in which the lack of a reasonable
explanation from the selfish perspective becomes inconsistent in the predominant economic
theory. Chapter 5 is from a moral point of view it describes and criticises the different
approaches to reciprocity observed by sociologists biologists psychologists and economists.
Chapter 6 analyses three mutual recognition proposals as possible foundations for human
cooperation highlighting one of them -cordial recognition developed by Cortina- because it is
more closely related to studies of reciprocity particularly the most recent contributions from
the neurosciences. Chapter 7 proposes cordial reciprocity as a horizon of meaning for the
various approaches to reciprocity observed. Chapter 8 explores the possible emergence and
development of cordial goods a type of relational and communicative good that enables joint
actions to take place in different contexts of human activity. Chapter 9 analyses the
application and implementation of cordial reciprocity at the macro meso and micro levels of
the economy. And finally it proposes guidelines for designing a monitoring and compliance
system which based on the communication storage and processing of big data and the committed
participation of stakeholders offers businesses the possibility of inspecting their underlying
dimensions of morality emotions and responsibility.
