The paper analyses the proliferation of small scale family farms in India. It contends that widespread involuntary unemployment in the rural economy is the chief reason for this phenomenon. The problem can be considered as that of coordination failure. The paper attempts to show that such a...

Due to persistent unemployment, peasant families in developing countries tend to employ more labour on the leased in land plots than a capitalist would. In labour surplus societies, therefore, landlords may earn higher surplus from leasing out land than from self-cultivation. By endogenising...