Organization-Production Theory

This chapter examines the three stages of development of Organization-Production theory, tracing the ideas that culminated in the 1925 explanation of family farm dynamics. It provides particular attention to the degree of intellectual consensus among the Timiriazev professors and to their relations with various reference groups. The theory for which the Organization-Production group became known developed in three stages, which spanned a period of nearly fifteen years. Between 1912 and 1915 the theory unfolded as the Timiriazev professors articulated a set of concepts and a series of relationships that they knit together into a preliminary account of the family farm economy. A. V. Chaianov analysis of the dynamics of the family farm had interesting implications for classical economic theory. Chaianov next inquired about the effect on the rural economy of the participation of a large sector of family farms. The criticism was launched first by L. N. Kritsman and G. Meerson.