MORAL ECONOMY by James Scott

Macroeconomic Theory

Studies how individual units make decisions about how to allocate limited resources

Self Exploitation

 Alexander V. Chayanov’s Terms

happens due to

• near zero opportunity cost

• necessity to reach subsistence.

  Peasants push themselves far beyond capitalist rational limits.

Hunger rents:

Alexander V. Chayanovs

The larger the family, the larger the marginal product of any additional land and hence the larger the maximum rent the family is willing to pay, this then results in tragic choices and decisions. 

Safety first Principle

(James Roumasset)

Relative preference for subsistence security over high average income

• prefers minimizing the risk of disaster than maximizing return

• doesn’t imply that they don’t take risks but rather avoid disasters (not meeting subsistence). 

• in the choice of seed and techniques lies in the safety first principle

1. Subsistence Production

2. Cash Cropping

 
the choices of crops and cultivation techniques basis on which will give the highest and most stable payment to the labor.

1. __________Farming mainly for personal or local consumption

2.  __________Grow crops for sale (does not assure family’s food supply)

Case of Ban Ping

The primary concern lies in having enough rice in their bins to carry them through till the next harvest.

 Their lives as cultivators were divided largely between two rice fields, one of which was devoted to subsistence needs, while at the other the desire for profit dominated.

1. Self Help

2. Patron Client

What do they do when resources fall below basic needs?

1. _________Most reliable since it is not contingent on someone else’s assistance but at the same time it can only yield up to what a man can lay his hands on.

2.__________Patron lends assistance. More to be recommended for its resources than for its reliability. (serve as a loyal member)

3. State

4. Kinsmen

3. ___________Through regional granaries, employment, famine relief, welfare, and relief. Hardly reliable. ( the claims state taxes, corvée, conscription )

4. ____________Normally feel obliged to do what they can for a close relative in trouble but they can offer no more than the pool of resources at their command. (expects the same consideration when in trouble.)

Subsistence as a moral claim

____________18-19th century Europe: believes in right to subsistence

• Its central assumption was simply that whatever their civil and political disabilities, the poor had the social right to subsistence hence, any claim on peasants by elites or state could have no justice when it infringes subsistence needs.

• Elites must not invade the subsistence reserve for poor people.

1. Smallholders

2. Tenants

3. Wage Laborers

Hierarchy of Status

1. ________He possessed, in his own hands, the means of his subsistence.

2. ________Has certainty of getting advances, the minimum level of livelihood is ensured by landlords. (willing to put up with its injustices for this compensating security) 

3. W____ L_______

Jajmani Relationship of landed and landless castes in India

• The system was based on reciprocal obligations: service castes gave labor or skills, and in return, they received grain, clothes, or other goods not cash.

• The landless relied on the landed castes for livelihood, food, and security.

• Their jobs were inherited and permanent.

• They were bound to one family or group and had no freedom to sell their labor to others.

Risk Insurance in the village

The peasant preferred a system of tenancy or dependency in which the landlord/patron protected his tenant/client against ruin in bad years and an officialdom, which at the very least, made allowances in periods of dearth.

Elites

• assumes a protective role

• avoids gossip by an exaggerated generosity

1. Rules of Reciprocity

2. Wealthy

3. Debtors

1._________a set of moral expectations which applies to their exchanges with other villagers 

2.___________has a position to exert pressure on others (man-little man relationship)

• no proper behavior = contempt/gossip, receives only token respect from poor families

3. __________obligated in many small ways to turn throughout the whole year

5 ways the colonial state and commercialization of agriculture worsened the subsistence security dilemma of the peasants: 

1. Introduction of fixed taxation regardless of harvest conditions

2. Destruction of traditional safety mechanisms

3. Forced commercialization and integration into global markets

4. Land dispossession and legal reforms

5. Expansion of state power and enforcement mechanisms 

Subsistence

The action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level.

Rebellion

The act of violent or open resistance to an established government or ruler.

• Open defiance, usually against a government
  

Moral Economy

A system of moral expectations governing economic relationships.

• The belief that peasants have moral expectations of fairness and reciprocity—they expect elites or landlords to help them survive during hard times (e.g., famine, poor harvest).

Colonial & Market Disruption:

The shift from customary tribute systems to impersonal market systems (e.g., cash crops, taxation) undermined traditional support systems, making peasants more vulnerable.

Subsistence Crisis Level

• SCL is not instant starvation but a “danger zone” where:

  • Peasants must sell land, migrate, or disband households.

  • Life drops from “normal penury” to “hand-to-mouth” misery.

• Key social consequences: Loss of food security, family cohesion, and social status.

deference and defiance

The line between _______and ________ was drawn at subsistence.”

Lower Burma

• Colonial policies expanded rice exports and hiked the prices. Many peasants lost lands and became tenants.

• Causes:

  • British replaced subsistence norms with market-based production.

  • Collective village protections weakened.

• Effects:

  • Increased rural vulnerability and indebtedness No rebellion yet, but deepening unrest set the stage for revolt

The Saya San Rebellion | (1930-32)

Peasant revolt led by Saya San in Upper Burma Aimed to restore traditional kingship and resist British rule.

Cause:

• The Great Depression lowered rice prices

• Peasants burdened by taxes and land loss

• Collapse of moral economy guarantees

Consequence

• Suppressed by British with mass arrests and executions.

• Symbol of peasant resistance rooted in subsistence ethics

Saya San

The traditional protections that once helped them survive disappeared (Burmese Monarchy)

Lead by_______ of Upper Burma

Vietnam: Annam | (1890s-1920s)

French ruled _______as a protectorate.

Villages were taxed collectively, preserving communal ties.

Cause:

• French retained village-based tax system.

• Mutual aid and subsistence-sharing systems survived longer

Consequence:

• Delayed breakdown of the moral economy

• Fewer early rebellions, eventually rural radicalization

• Colonial policies shaped resistance timing.