Aspectos relevantes de la investigación jurídica en economía social

There has been a considerable growth in legal research on the social economy over the last twenty years. The purpose of this article is to present some of the most important aspects of this work, referring to the key areas of research covered and future trends. We have grouped the subjects being researched according to their contribution towards establishing the legal statuses of businesses in the social economy, work on social economy enterprises within the constitutional framework, commentaries on the laws that regulate the different legal statuses of businesses in the social economy, establishing the responsibilities of the State and Autonomous Regions, studying the nature, purposes and characteristic features of social economy enterprises, and the key issues to be considered with regard to the legal system that governs them. Having analysed works published on such matters, we have outlined some possible ways of further developing the research that has been studied. An extensive bibliography is also included.