Sharecropper

Background

A sharecropper is a tenant who agrees to pay rent in the form of a share of the crops produced rather than by using money. This form of agricultural arrangement is particularly prevalent in backward or less-developed regions.

Historical Context

Sharecropping emerged after the abolition of slavery and the transition from a forced labor system to one that necessitated compensation for labor. In places such as the American Deep South after the Civil War, sharecropping became a widespread agricultural practice. It allowed former slaves and landless farmers to work on land owned by someone else in return for a share of the harvest, essentially acting as a middle ground between wage labor and tenant farming.

Definitions and Concepts

The practice of sharecropping involves an agreement between a landowner and a tenant farmer whereby the latter works the land and pays a portion of the crop yield to the landowner as rent. This system shares the production risk between the landlord and the tenant, but it can also discourage tenants from investing in long-term land improvements, such as irrigation.

Major Analytical Frameworks

Classical Economics

Classical economics primarily focused on land, labor, and capital, recognizing sharecropping as a way to facilitate the usage of idle agricultural land.

Neoclassical Economics

Neoclassical economists analyze labor agreements including sharecropping through principles of utility maximization, exploring the impact of contracts on productivity and land use.

Keynesian Economics

Keynesian economics doesn’t specifically address sharecropping but can be utilized to examine agricultural markets and their influence on broader economic conditions and aggregate demand.

Marxian Economics

From a Marxian perspective, sharecropping can be viewed as an exploitative relationship between landlords (the bourgeoisie) and tenant farmers (the proletariat), perpetuating class inequalities.

Institutional Economics

Institutional economics looks at sharecropping within the context of social and legal norms, recognized as an institutional response to imperfections in land and labor markets.

Behavioral Economics

Behavioral economists may study how lack of proper incentives in sharecropping influences tenant behavior, potentially leading to inefficient allocations of labor and land.

Post-Keynesian Economics

Post-Keynesian analysis might focus on the macroeconomic effects of agricultural production systems like sharecropping on aggregate supply and rural economy.

Austrian Economics

Austrian economists would consider the impact of voluntary agreements such as sharecropping on economic coordination and resource allocation, emphasizing subjective value and decentralization.

Development Economics

In development economics, sharecropping is explored as a system that reflects both a coping mechanism for poor farmers with limited access to credit and a structural barrier to economic development.

Monetarism

Monetarist perspectives generally are less concerned with agricultural contract types like sharecropping but might touch on its influence on agricultural output and inflation within the agricultural sector.

Comparative Analysis

A comparative analysis may involve looking at sharecropping across different geographical areas, like its variation in efficiency and productivity compared to fixed-rent leasing or outright purchasing of land.

Case Studies

Case studies across various periods and countries could illustrate the shifting significance and impact of sharecropping systems. Notable studies include post-Civil War Southern United States, colonial India, and modern-day Sub-Saharan Africa.

Suggested Books for Further Studies

“The Roots of Dependency: Subsistence, Environment, and Social Change among the Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos” by Richard White.
“Sharecropping and Sharecroppers” by Solomon and William Kapp.
“Land, Labor, and Rural Poverty: Essays in Development Economics” by Michael Lipton.

Tenant Farming: A farming system where the tenant pays rent, either in cash or a portion of the production, to a landowner.
Agricultural Tenant: An individual who leases land for the purpose of farming.
Subsidy: Financial support extended by the government to the agricultural sector to supplement the income of farmers.
Leasehold System: A farmlands leasing system where tenants pay fixed rent to the landlords, and typically have longer tenure security.