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Rural Adaptation in Russia: Who Responds and How Do We Measure It?
Author(s) -
WEGREN STEPHEN K.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of agrarian change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.63
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1471-0366
pISSN - 1471-0358
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0366.2004.00092.x
Subject(s) - adaptation (eye) , measure (data warehouse) , resistance (ecology) , set (abstract data type) , horizon , economics , economic growth , political science , economic system , psychology , computer science , ecology , mathematics , database , neuroscience , biology , programming language , geometry
Utilizing survey data from 800 households in five regions of Russia, this article attempts to measure adaptation to reform stimuli according to socio‐economic strata. While the orthodox literature has emphasized rural resistance to reform, in fact one of the main analytical obstacles is differentiating between adaptive and survival strategies. Time horizon is used as the primary criterion to distinguish between adaptive and survival behaviour. The article analyses adaptive responses by examining the use of rural credit, the operation of a household business, the enlargement of household land plots and a set of attitudes that taken together comprise an ‘entrepreneurial spirit’.