Page 109 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 109
integr ated peasant economy in friuli (16th–18th centuries)
lages in addition to the migrant activities linked to weaving there was also
a manufacturing production linked to the territory. Also when we reason
in terms of family, then, the mountains, although poorer in land, prove to
be a very fertile environment for the development of the integrated peas-
ant economy.
3. The historical development
In this part of the paper we deal with the topic of the integrated peasant
economy in light of its historical dynamics that is, its possible developments
over time. We conduct the analysis on two sides: short and medium period.
An integrated peasant economy implies the existence of multiple ac-
tivities but also their close inter-dependence, according to the idea that all
the activities were integrated, overlapped and modulated in order to better
adapt to the economic situation.
From this perspective we need to acknowledge a system plasticity
which could be achieved through the distribution of work among different
categories of families within the same village, but also through task distri-
bution within the family. In the context of an integrated peasant economy,
economic transformations not only ease stress, but allow an adjustment in
the short term. This adjustment is closely linked to the options which de-
pend on the economic relationships among the different actors. From an
institutional point of view, for example, the options’ range of a family is fa-
voured by the fact that it owns land and it has the possibility to exploit it in-
dependently, without any constraints placed on it by other people or insti-
tutions. In times of crisis, therefore, the reciprocal relationship between the
activities linked to the integrated peasant economy changes. Having said
that, this does not imply that drastic breaking points might not occur in the
general economic balance or in the usual performance of the activities. The
entire system, however, adapts more easily.
On the basis of what we have previously maintained, therefore, the
development of an integrated peasant economy should bring about a bet-
ter ability to resist economic crisis and, therefore, according to the logic of
a Malthusian system, allow a better equipped territory to overcome fewer
losses in a subsistence crisis.
In Graph 4.1 we illustrate the historical series of deceases between 1605
and 1645 in connection with a set of Friulian communities divided between
the mountains and the plain. By way of comparison we illustrate also the
series related to Udine, the main urban centre of the territory.
107
lages in addition to the migrant activities linked to weaving there was also
a manufacturing production linked to the territory. Also when we reason
in terms of family, then, the mountains, although poorer in land, prove to
be a very fertile environment for the development of the integrated peas-
ant economy.
3. The historical development
In this part of the paper we deal with the topic of the integrated peasant
economy in light of its historical dynamics that is, its possible developments
over time. We conduct the analysis on two sides: short and medium period.
An integrated peasant economy implies the existence of multiple ac-
tivities but also their close inter-dependence, according to the idea that all
the activities were integrated, overlapped and modulated in order to better
adapt to the economic situation.
From this perspective we need to acknowledge a system plasticity
which could be achieved through the distribution of work among different
categories of families within the same village, but also through task distri-
bution within the family. In the context of an integrated peasant economy,
economic transformations not only ease stress, but allow an adjustment in
the short term. This adjustment is closely linked to the options which de-
pend on the economic relationships among the different actors. From an
institutional point of view, for example, the options’ range of a family is fa-
voured by the fact that it owns land and it has the possibility to exploit it in-
dependently, without any constraints placed on it by other people or insti-
tutions. In times of crisis, therefore, the reciprocal relationship between the
activities linked to the integrated peasant economy changes. Having said
that, this does not imply that drastic breaking points might not occur in the
general economic balance or in the usual performance of the activities. The
entire system, however, adapts more easily.
On the basis of what we have previously maintained, therefore, the
development of an integrated peasant economy should bring about a bet-
ter ability to resist economic crisis and, therefore, according to the logic of
a Malthusian system, allow a better equipped territory to overcome fewer
losses in a subsistence crisis.
In Graph 4.1 we illustrate the historical series of deceases between 1605
and 1645 in connection with a set of Friulian communities divided between
the mountains and the plain. By way of comparison we illustrate also the
series related to Udine, the main urban centre of the territory.
107
