Page 33 - 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. 33
the integrated peasant economy as a concept in progress
the long run is therefore as well the result of economic choices deter-
mined from market conditions and from the availability of alterna-
tive employment opportunities (Federico 1989, 90–1).
Similarities with the integrated peasant economy may be spotted, at
least partially, also in Federico’s distinction of possible income sources. He
could also propose a quantification of their contribution to the whole fami-
ly income in 20th century Italy (different regions and periods, before WWI,
interwar period, and after WWII, Table 1.6). The result of his economet-
ric analysis led to the conclusion that “the recourse to external sources was
greater, the smaller, the more specialised and less profitable the farm was,
and the higher the demographic load on land was” (Federico 1989, 98).
Table 1.6: “Forms of pluriactivity” and their contribution to the total family income
(181 cases, 20th-century Italy)
Income sources Average percentage
of the total family income
Agricultural work with the use of farm capital (like animals)
Gathering, hunting, fishing 7.20
Tertiary activities: transport 1.35
Tertiary activities: crafts (shoe-making, barbering, bricklaying 6.80
etc.)
Emigration: temporary and definitive 19.95
Manufacturing activities: ‘modern’ (factory, mainly women)
Manufacturing activities: ‘proto-industrial’ (textile) 25.08
Manufacturing activities: diverse (charcoal production, mill man- 39.46
agement, rural crafts, road-keeping) 8.74
21.54
Source: Federico 1989, 94–6.
Anyway, the main assonances with the integrated peasant economy
are to be identified in his stressing how peasant income integration was not
necessarily and simply a way to exploit seasonal under-employment in ag-
riculture, as well as in his underlining the fact that peasants made active
economic choices that attained also the population-resources ratio. This
means that a holding too small to give work to all the hands and feed all the
mouths may well be understood as the consequence of a choice made based
on existing income opportunities. The theme of peasant agency (making
choices and acting them out) is closely related to the question of wheth-
31
the long run is therefore as well the result of economic choices deter-
mined from market conditions and from the availability of alterna-
tive employment opportunities (Federico 1989, 90–1).
Similarities with the integrated peasant economy may be spotted, at
least partially, also in Federico’s distinction of possible income sources. He
could also propose a quantification of their contribution to the whole fami-
ly income in 20th century Italy (different regions and periods, before WWI,
interwar period, and after WWII, Table 1.6). The result of his economet-
ric analysis led to the conclusion that “the recourse to external sources was
greater, the smaller, the more specialised and less profitable the farm was,
and the higher the demographic load on land was” (Federico 1989, 98).
Table 1.6: “Forms of pluriactivity” and their contribution to the total family income
(181 cases, 20th-century Italy)
Income sources Average percentage
of the total family income
Agricultural work with the use of farm capital (like animals)
Gathering, hunting, fishing 7.20
Tertiary activities: transport 1.35
Tertiary activities: crafts (shoe-making, barbering, bricklaying 6.80
etc.)
Emigration: temporary and definitive 19.95
Manufacturing activities: ‘modern’ (factory, mainly women)
Manufacturing activities: ‘proto-industrial’ (textile) 25.08
Manufacturing activities: diverse (charcoal production, mill man- 39.46
agement, rural crafts, road-keeping) 8.74
21.54
Source: Federico 1989, 94–6.
Anyway, the main assonances with the integrated peasant economy
are to be identified in his stressing how peasant income integration was not
necessarily and simply a way to exploit seasonal under-employment in ag-
riculture, as well as in his underlining the fact that peasants made active
economic choices that attained also the population-resources ratio. This
means that a holding too small to give work to all the hands and feed all the
mouths may well be understood as the consequence of a choice made based
on existing income opportunities. The theme of peasant agency (making
choices and acting them out) is closely related to the question of wheth-
31
