Communal forests are a unique land tenure system and comprise a singular legal category in Galicia. Their persistence over time demonstrates that this community-owned resource has overcome the “tragedy of the commons”, showing their capability to successfully develop self-governing institutions. However, communal forests have rarely been studied through the lens of economics. This minimizes the opportunity to explore to what extent communities of communal forests might be a driving force of general well-being, citizen empowerment, equity, employment, and local development. In this paper, we focus on this gap and address the opportunities. We detail this special ownership structure that allows residents of rural areas to exploit the forest as if they were a single owner. Moreover, we highlight the potential of communal forests to exploit local resources far beyond extractive processes, enabling the generation of greater added value to the economy while favoring a responsible treatment of resources. This enables productive activity integrated with the rest of the primary sector, while allowing for the maintenance of the population and supporting the local economy. Our results reveal a set of inefficiencies that can jeopardize common forest opportunities to become a sustainable economic activity, such as underqualified management, a low level of interest and commitment among community members, and excessive focus on logging. Thus, we propose several actions to improve collective engagement and active membership to better manage Galicia’s forests.

The literature on entrepreneurship has developed a huge body of fruitful research to explain why women do not engage in business as often as men. However, relatively little is known about the role that different business models may play in driving women's entrepreneurial activity, which is examined in this study.In this paper we develop a model to empirically test the relationship between women's motivations to become entrepreneurs and their willingness to embark on business through cooperatives, a particular organizational model. We find that the fit between women's needs and expectations and the guiding principles of cooperatives is decisive for the materialization of female entrepreneurship. Furthermore, we explore the role that institutions can play in fostering this link. In doing so, we extend the literature on women's entrepreneurship by highlighting key factors to better channel the development of this potential resource for economic development. Our confirmatory model highlights the role of cooperatives as a type of organization particularly suited to the interests and needs of women entrepreneurs. Thus, the promotion of this business model can be useful to improve the number of women entrepreneurs and, in turn, enhance economic development.

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Los sistemas públicos de pensiones constituyen uno de los pilares básicos sobre los que se asienta el estado del bienestar del que se han dotado los países desarrollados. La evolución reciente de sus estados financieros ha puesto en cuestión su sostenibilidad en las condiciones actuales y ha abierto el debate sobre las reformas necesarias para poderla garantizar. En todo caso, los factores demográficos que condicionan el gasto en pensiones tienen una dinámica difícil de alterar, por lo que resulta de interés analizar su incidencia sobre el gasto tanto desde una perspectiva histórica como de proyección futura. En este sentido, la diferente realidad demográfica de Galicia respecto del conjunto del Estado permite profundizar en este análisis, centrándonos además en los parámetros relacionados con el envejecimiento con el fin de valorar adecuadamente su incidencia sobre la sostenibilidad del sistema, pretensión última de este trabajo.

The Social Economy (SE) has raised strong interest in recent years. This sector is considered as an alternative to the traditional business model, due to its intrinsic characteristics which prioritize collective benefit. On the basis of its effects on local development, SE has been viewed as specially rooted in a territory. Thus, it can be expected that the more proximity on policies, the more positive effect of these efforts.Additionally, its special alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) renders SE especially suitable to favour a new economic paradigm that reconciles growth and sustainability.In this paper we explore these relationships by analysing Galician's case, one autonomous region in Spain. In this region, government promotion has been decisive in enhancing SE, establishing a favourable ecosystem that has made this region the seminal reference for the regional development of the SE, with significant repercussions on its territory.Building on this analysis, this study undertakes a subnational approach regarding the public policies aimed to promote SE, so the results might be useful to enhance the effectiveness of these policies, focusing on proximity and adjustment to the territory.