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 3. the lesser the availability of alternative economic opportunities

 for the employment of farm resources, especially family labor;

 4. the closer to unity is the ratio of the value of annual family
 2/
 Sms to the farmers' net worth (asset/debth structure); -

 5. the tighter the capital rationing facing the farmer (including

 relevant interest charges) [Dutia, 1961; Long, 1968a; 1968b].

 Several recent models have been proposed and tested emDirically which

attempt to describe situations where the concentration in decision-making is

upon the risk taken rather than on the possible gains. 2/ Three efforts are

especially noteworthy. Boussard and Petit [1966] have expanded and applied

Shackle's [1949; 1961] "focus of loss" approach. Using this approach the

assumption is made that "farmers want to maximize the 'normal,' or mean, value

of their incomes under the constraint that the focus of loss...is at least

equal to the permissible loss, that is, to the difference between the mean

income and the minimum income." [p. 873]. Perhaps the most interesting and

potentially useful of all is the recent formulation by Karl Borch 11968].





I/
 This point can be best seen in reverse. The existence of other economic
opportunities for the employment of available resources has often led to rapid
innovation and expansion in production. Study of development under such
situations in the past (Burma, West Africa) has led to the '"ent-for-surplus"
theories of development [yint, 1964; Eicher, 1967]. The influence of generally
limited economic opportunity as it affects innovation is another neglected
dimension which deserves further study.

/ In a crude sense the farmer's net worth constitutes his ultimate reserve,
either mortgagable or saleable, to cover minimal subsistence in the event of
massive production failure. Peasant farmers normally have very narrow capital
bases so that the margins for "risk experimentation" are also very narrow,

3/ The earlier pioneering efforts by Hildreth [1957], Porter [19591, Johnson,
et al. [1961], Gould [1963], Reutlinger [1963], Wolpert 11964] have a great deal
to commend them to future researchers in this field.