Revitalising Rural Left-Behind Places through the Social Economy: Combating Depopulation and Unemployment

Yolanda de Llanos (), Luisa Alamá-Sabater (), Miguel Ángel Márquez () and Emili Tortosa-Ausina ()
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Yolanda de Llanos: Department of Economics, Universidad de Extremadura, Spain
Luisa Alamá-Sabater: Department of Economics and IIDL, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain
Miguel Ángel Márquez: Department of Economics, Universidad de Extremadura, Spain
Emili Tortosa-Ausina: IVIE, Valencia and IIDL and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain

No 2026/03, Working Papers from Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain)

Abstract: This paper examines the concept of left-behind places through the lens of neoendogenous development, with special attention to the role of the social economy in enhancing territorial resilience. Focusing on the Autonomous Community of Extremadura (Spain) as a representative regional case, it investigates the bidirectional relationship between population dynamics and employment using a simultaneous equations model that captures the spatial interdependencies among rural, urban and semi-urban municipalities. The findings highlight that employment growth drives population growth (supporting the idea that people follow jobs) while no evidence is found for the reverse. Local factors such as age structure, foreign population, income per capita and the presence of cooperatives also play a significant role in shaping these dynamics. Notably, the presence of social economy entities has a positive effect on both population and employment growth. The results suggest several policy pathways to mitigate depopulation: promoting employment in urban and intermediate areas, improving rural accessibility, and strengthening the social economy as a key strategy to foster sustainable local development.

Keywords: depopulation; left-behind places; neo-endogenous development; rural; social economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C3 O18 O21 R1 R23 R3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-inv and nep-mac
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jau:wpaper:2026/03

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