How money, land, and effort shape rural living
This is a socio-economic study of 861 white farm families from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas, examining how the ability to pay relates to the standard of living. It explains methods for measuring family finances and the factors that influence what a farm family can afford.
The book explains key ideas about farm income, labor income, disposable net income, and other measures used to gauge financial strength. It discusses how factors like farm size, total farm capital, operating costs, and net worth relate to living standards, and it explores how these elements interact with family needs and wants.
- Learn how researchers define and compare a farmer’s ability to pay
- See which financial indicators researchers associate most with living standards
- Understand how farm size, diversity of farm enterprises, and capital influence expenditures for family living
- Discover cautions about data limits and regional differences in the study
Ideal for readers interested in agricultural economics, rural sociology, and how financial resources connect to daily life on American farms.