A new model for sharecropping and peasant holdings

Sharecropping has posed many puzzles to the theoretician. It seems to disappear with the coming of capitalism and yet again evidence exists for its reappearance and cyclical behaviour. This article maintains that many of these puzzles can be solved by juxtaposing Marxist thought on to the neo‐classical tools of analysis. This is achieved by concentrating on a specific type of sharecropping from which the rest of the puzzle can be explained. The way is also paved for a general model of differentiated peasantry according to the initial endowments of land and labour. The link with the ‘Inverse Relationship’ is also explained.