Trabajo y bienestar a través de las organizaciones del Tercer Sector

This article studies the role of the Third Sector when facing two current challenges for economy: unemployment and the crisis of the welfare state. It also tries to throw light on the current conceptual and terminological confusion concerning the Third Sector, since, according to the author, such an explanation is important not only fo scholars, but also for politicians, promotion groups and the civil society in general. New concepts, such as the “neo-cooperative entrepreneurial action” and the “mixed cooperative” are introduced. This analysis, therefore, studies the transformation process of public economy, emphasising its local dimension.