The Brazilian forestry sector plays a significant role in Brazil’s economy. Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in the country, and its forestry sector is a sustainable development activity. Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) is an economic approach that offers an analytical framework for understanding how institutions shape the functioning of agro-industrial chains. This article aims to analyse the governance of forestry transactions in southern Brazil in the light of TCE. The research methodology is descriptive and uses a mixed methods approach. The qualitative stage used semi-structured interviews with key players in the forestry chain. The quantitative part sought to measure the characteristics of farm-level transactions by applying a questionnaire to 24 producers who own forests in 16 cities in southern Brazil. Content analysis (qualitative stage), descriptive statistics, non-parametric hypothesis tests, and logistic regression (quantitative stage) were used as data analysis techniques. The research results show that the largest eucalyptus production areas are used for cellulose production, the sale of which to paper industries is negotiated via contracts. On the other hand, the forestry production of the smaller areas is destined for firewood, whose suppliers trade via the market and transact, as a rule, with end consumers. The logistic...

This paper aims to present central concepts of Evolutionary Institutionalism and to highlight analytical elements that may be useful for studies in agricultural economics. To this end, the study carried out a literature review based on the main references of institutional and evolutionary economics. The main analytical contribution of Evolutionary Institutionalism to agricultural economics lies in understanding economic relations from the perspective of human behaviour. Individuals become central to the analysis of the rural world, since they establish habits, behaviour patterns, and rules of conduct that, when interacting collectively, produce institutions. Thus, it is from the active role of the individual that rural dynamics emerge and consolidate an institutional environment and prevailing social structures. It is possible to point out some specific themes that emerge as potential applications of this line of thought: a) the analysis of the development trajectory of and institutional changes affecting different rural sectors; b) the role of habits, traditions and behavioural trends; c) power relations in agricultural markets; d) the evaluation of public policies for agriculture; e) innovation and technology as determinants of the evolution of routines, and f) the institutions “behind” the new relations of food production and consumption.