Meso-economics. The Case of Personal Agrarian Exchange

Abstract

Widespread is the view of the existence of three levels in the economy - macro, meso and micro. Economic theory also develops on three levels. Macroeconomics and microeconomics consist of well-grounded knowledge. Meso-economics is a relatively new subject and less developed. We try to contribute in this direction, pursuing two goals: theoretical – literature review, explanation of the economic nature of the meso-level, description of the purpose it serves and its characteristics; and practical – to demonstrate one possible research approach for studying the meso-economic level. We extend our previous research on a group of Bulgarian farmers-practitioners personal exchange instead of impersonal one. For many “personal exchange” is in the past. Not for us. Looking around one can see a growing number of cases of personal agrarian exchange. It is modern and differs from those we know from centuries ago. Prestigious restaurants show the farms where the products they use come from - names, location, features, more and more consumers shop their food only from certain producers, large retail chains present their farms-suppliers - names, photos, stories, etc. The volume of this type of exchange is still small. But its influence and potential to grow is important.