Surplus extraction, risk management and economic change among Peruvian Peasants

Abstract

Analytical approaches to economic change among peasants are marked by a dichotomy between orthodox decision‐making and Marxian surplus appropriation. These approaches are combined in this paper in an examination of the response of Peruvian peasants to new economic opportunities. First, the mechanics of surplus appropriation and the economic logic of peasant households are addressed. The discussion then turns to the nature of risk and uncertainty and describes economic and social strategies for risk management. Two forms of social relationship, the broker and the dyadic contract, and their role in managing risk in the shift from subsistence to cash cropping and the reaction of peasants to the 1969 Agrarian Reform are analyzed.