“The social economy” has played an important role in addressing and mitigating the short- and long-term economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. In the short term, social economy actors helped emerge from the crisis by providing innovative solutions to strengthen public services to complement government action. In the longer term, social economy organizations can help transform the post-crisis economy by promoting inclusive and sustainable economic models. Relying on decades of experience, its peculiarities and fundamental principles, the social economy can inspire models for social innovation and a sense of business operating in a market economy. The aim of this article is to show how the social economy is mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and how governments are responding to these problems, as well as to show how the pandemic has caused numerous changes in economic activity and the way companies operate. The main conclusions of the article are: the social economy helps recover from COVID-19, the social economy helps to transform societies in crisis, the social economy inspires the mainstream economy to achieve a social goal, Policy makers support the political economy in its transformation.