PEASANTS AND PRICES: SOME THEORETICAL ASPECTS 47 THE CHAYANOV-KULA APPROACH In his Economic Theory of the Feudal System the eminent Polish economic historian Witold Kula presented a pioneering attempt to analyse the determinants of production decisions in a society which did not have the capitalist categories of wages and profits, illustrating his arguments with reference to Poland in the 18th century. He also analysed the relationship between fluctuating harvests and prices, and of both to the market supply, in such a society where peasant production was already commercialised to a certain degree, but not capitalist. There are many propositions Kula puts forward with which there can be little argument; but there also emerges elements of a theoretical approach on questions of peasant viability in the face of price fluctuations, which recall A.V. Chayanov's work fifty years earlier and which merit close examination. There are problems inherent in the conceptualisation of 'cost of labour* which have not, hitherto, received the attention they deserve. Table 1: Transactions on Three Feudal Estates Izdebki Hocz< 2W MOCZCI •ady zl ff zl gr zl gr 1. Income in money 13,826 20 7,388 27 6,980 3 2. Expenditure in money 3,988 14 3,354 22 4,373 6 3. Profit in money (1-2) 9,838 6 4,034 5 2,606 27 4. Services rendered in workdays (labour rent) (a) 12,703 10 7,223 18 4,180 24 5. Other services by peasants 3,533 4 1,290 24 330 15 6. Total services by peasants 16,236 14 8,514 12 4,511 9 7. Value of estate 160,000 — 7 61,000 — 8. Profit as % of value 6.2% 7 4.3% 9. Rate of monetisa- tion (b) 24% 32% 51% 10. Annual profit rate per zl expended 2.5 1.2 0.6 11. Monetary outlays by the lord 3,988 14 3,354 22 4,373 6 12. Contribution made by peasant (labour obli- gations) 12,703 10 7,223 18 4,180 24 13. Total production costs (minimum) (11+12) 16,691 24 10,578 10 8,554 0 14. Lord's income in money 13,826 20 7,388 27 6,980 3 15. Losses 14-13) 2,865 4 3,189 13 1,573 27 (a) Corvees (b) Percentage of money expend iture in relation to total money expenditure and thevalue of peasant labour rent. Source: Kula, (1976) Economic Theory of the Feudal System^ untitled table on p. 29, Items 4 and 12 refer to the same variable value of a >rvee labour days. Items 2 and 11 refer to the same variable, money expenditure.