Why do farmers’ cooperatives fail in a market economy? Rediscovering Chayanov with the Chinese experience

• Main Authors: HU, Zhanping, ZHANG, Qian Forrest, DONALDSON, John A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: peasant resilience; vertical integration; cooperatives; agribusiness; Chayanov; China; Agribusiness; Asian Studies; Rural Sociology; Sociology of Culture
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3649; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4907/viewcontent/WhydoFarmersCooperativesfail_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In The Theory of Peasant Cooperatives, Chayanov develops the theories of differential optima and vertical integration, which stress the vulnerability of peasant farming in capitalist markets, and argues that cooperatives can support smallholders only if they operate as ‘a cooperative movement’, are...