La composition du ménage paysan en france au XIXe siècle: une analyse économique du mode de production domestique

This article offers a short-run economic model of the manner by which a peasant householder chooses between family and non-family labor. A distinction is made between circumstances of backwardness and isolation and cases where households are subject to the powerful influence of market forces (this is a proxy for "mentalities"). A separate analysis of allodial and sharecropping farms is also presented. The model generates predictions about geographical contrasts in peasant family composition, as measured by the number of family adults per household and the number of marital units per household. These predictions are tested on cross-sectional data for 76 rural departments of France in 1856.