Did the Cooperative Start Life as a Joint-Stock Company? Business Law and Cooperatives in Spain, 1869-1931

Timothy Guinnane and Susana Martinez-Rodriguez

No 90880, Center Discussion Papers from Yale University, Economic Growth Center

Abstract: Studies of Spanish cooperatives date their spread from the Law on Agrarian Syndicates of 1906. But the first legislative appearance of cooperatives is an 1869 measure that permitted general incorporation for lending companies. The 1931 general law on cooperatives, which was the first act permitting the formation of cooperatives in any activity, reflects the gradual disappearance of the cooperative’s “business” characteristics. In this paper we trace the Spanish cooperative’s legal roots in business law and its connections to broader questions of the freedom of association, the formation of joint-stock enterprises, and the liability of investors in business and cooperative entities. Our account underscores the similarities of the organizational problems approach by cooperatives and business firms, while at the same time respecting the distinctive purposes cooperatives served.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Institutional and Behavioral Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34
Date: 2010-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/90880/files/cdp987.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Did the Cooperative Start Life as a Joint-Stock Company? Business Law and Cooperatives in Spain, 1869–1931 (2010)
Working Paper: Did the Cooperative Start Life as a Joint-Stock Company? Business Law and Cooperatives in Spain, 1869-1931 (2010)
Working Paper: Did the Cooperative Start Life as a Joint-Stock Company? Business Law and Cooperatives in Spain, 1869-1931 (2010)
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:ags:yaleeg:90880

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.90880

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Center Discussion Papers from Yale University, Economic Growth Center Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search (aesearch@umn.edu).