The Unitary Model of the Peasant Household: an Obituary?

Abstract

This paper explains the logic of the new household economics (NHE) by examining its application to peasant households in contemporary developing economies. The paper begins by explaining the origins of the NHE. A typical NHE model is then developed. Next, an influential NHE model of the peasant household is presented. Finally, a critique of the NHE analysis of the peasant household is offered. The paper argues that the neoclassical NHE approach to the peasant household fails to address the issue of socially constructed norms of agency and contestation, norms which are central to any understanding of the peasant household and indeed of any household.