Peasant Households and Pandemic Viral Diseases

Feuerbacher, Arndt and McDonald, Scott and Thierfelder, Karen (2020): Peasant Households and Pandemic Viral Diseases.

Abstract

Outbreaks of infectious diseases are particularly devastating for developing countries and the poor: they deplete, through premature death and morbidity the primary asset of the poor – their labour – in economies with the least developed health care systems. This study examines how peasant households, who are simultaneously producers and consumers, might adapt to the impact of a pandemic. The analyses indicate that the dual role of peasant households allows them to mitigate some of the adverse impacts of a coronavirus pandemic, and thereby offset some of the economic effects. Critical to this is the ability of peasant households to transfer labour between agricultural activities and social reproduction; and this happens whenever in the year a pandemic occurs. But it is noteworthy that the changes in consumption and production patterns differ according to the timing of the pandemic.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Peasant households; Seasonal labour; Labour-Leisure trade-off; Pandemics; Economy-wide modelling.
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I15 - Health and Economic Development; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I32 - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O10 - General; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O11 - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness

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