Local constraints and knowledge transfer in the formation and development of cooperatives: Catalonia, 1860?1939

Francisco J. Medina-Albaladejo (), María Dolores Añón-Higón (), Alfonso Díez-Minguela () and Jose-Miguel Lana-Berasain
Additional contact information
Francisco J. Medina-Albaladejo: Universidad de Valencia, Spain
María Dolores Añón-Higón: Universidad de Valencia, Spain
Alfonso Díez-Minguela: Universidad de Valencia, Spain
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Alfonso Díez Minguela ()

No 1808, Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) from Asociación Española de Historia Económica

Abstract: Different factors have been proposed to explain why in some regions there is a greater tendency to form cooperatives. Although the debate remains open, the literature offers several interpretations. On the one hand, some studies have stressed the role played by human capital, market access and institutions, among other factors, while other studies have pointed to path dependence, that is to say, the development of social capital and trust within a society in the past encourages cooperation. Disentangling both effects is far from trivial and requires a careful analysis. In this study, we look at the spread of cooperativism within Catalonia from 1860 to 1939. Catalonia was not just the leading industrial region in Spain, but also where cooperatives first emerged and had a greater presence. In line with the existing evidence, we find that cooperativism spread from coastal municipalities to the hinterland. In this regard, it appears that literacy and accessibility facilitated this process. Besides, social capital cannot be discarded as a relevant factor, especially in rural contexts.

Keywords: Cooperatives; Human Capital; Social Capital; Knowledge Transfer; Catalonia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N3 N9 P13 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2018-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://media.timtul.com/media/web_aehe/dt-aehe-1808_20240108094350.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:ahe:dtaehe:1808

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) from Asociación Española de Historia Económica Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Andreu Seguí Beltrán ().