FAMILY-SIZE AND WEALTH - STANDING CHAYANOV ON HIS HEAD IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

The focus of this article is on the strong positive correlation betwee n landholdings and household size observed in rural India. It may be r ecalled that Chayanov cites some Russian data exhibiting a similar cor relation as evidence in support of his theory of the life cycle and it s consequences among peasant families, arguing in particular that the causation behind the correlation runs from the family size and its com position to the size of landholdings. This paper argues that in the In dian case the correlation cannot possibly arise from the type of dynam ics posited by Chayanovian theory. The explanation lies in the differe ntial demographic structures, including the propensity for families to remain joint or undivided, among the peasant classes, the causation r unning in the direction opposite to that suggested by Chayanov.