Household survival through commons: performance in an uncertain world

Abstract

The search for ethically responsible and scientifically precise alternatives for socially disadvantaged groups in high risk environments requires a multi disciplinary, multi market/multi institutional approach. Various groups of rural households diversify portfolios of their economic enterprises within a range defined by the ecological endowments. The access to factor and product markets, kinship networks, intra and inter household risk adjustments, public and private relief systems and finally common property resources or common pool institutions determine the composition and evolution of portfolios of different enterprises (Gupta,1981,1984,1985 ). There have been some studies on the role of commons in risk minimization strategies vis-a-vis private and open access re- sources (Gupta 1982 , 1985 , McKean 1985, Biswajit 1983, Jodha 1985, Agarwal 1990 ,Gupta and Ura 1990, Braden 1985, Buzdar ,1988 etc.). A coherent theoretical framework however, remains to be developed which situates survival through resources governed by different property right arrangements.