University of Pulma opens a chair in cooperative economics

The University of Pulma has established a chair in cooperative economics, endowed by a consortium of northern cooperatives rather than by the Council for Education.

The chair will fund research into member-owned firms, mutual credit and the legal forms that northern enterprises have used since the nineteenth century. Its first holder is expected to be appointed in the spring. The university said the endowment carried no conditions on teaching or publication.

The consortium includes the Severnivaraje Forestry Cooperative and the Pulma fishermen’s society. Cooperation between northern firms has grown since the 2018 water protests, when the cooperative movement provided much of the logistics for the Bistrica blockades.