The word cooperative may still evoke unpleasant memories in Romania, a country where producer associations were created by the Communists by force and along with the nationalization of private resources. However, in today’s economy, it’s hard to deny that where there’s plenty, strength grows, and that when you’re a small producer who’s short on resources and has a product that doesn’t cost much except in large quantities, it’s hard to be alone. Not only do you not have access to enough resources to produce as much as you want, but you also don’t have access to large distribution networks to sell your goods.

However, the association into cooperatives works successfully in many places of the world, in particular sometimes in Romania. Economist Corneliu Ionescu, trainer of Banometru’s financial education program, has not only studied these association models, but also offered successful consultations to production cooperatives such as Vidra, Ilfov, which are now achieving what many Romanians are hysterically demanding, sometimes without even knowing it. economic mechanisms behind: sell your Romanian vegetables in “foreign” supermarkets operating here in Romania.

Corneliu Ionescu, in an interview with the Inflationary Education Panorama campaign, explained how modern cooperatives work, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the mentality and practices of Romania that sometimes stand in the way of the success of such initiatives.

Not only producers, but also consumers can join cooperatives. In other countries, people band together to buy energy together or keep stores open only for themselves, in regions where large networks would not be economically profitable to operate.

Read more at Panorama.ro