Theories of the exploited peasantry: A critical review

The object of this article is to discuss the theoretical foundations of the Neo‐Marxist argument which states that by a process of unequal exchange, the existence of the peasant economy in the agricultural sector of capitalist, less developed countries (LDCs) means that rent payments are avoided. The article begins by presenting a summary of the implications for sectoral exchange of the transformation of labour values into prices of production. In Section II the modern versions of the theory of ground rent are discussed, and Section III is a critical review of the divergent propositions concerning the peasant economy's exchange relations in the product market. The article ends by proposing an empirical approach for the study of the exchange relations of the peasant economy and of a heterogeneous agricultural sector.