Subsistence economy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of a series on Economic systems
Ideologies and theories Anarchist · Capitalism Communist · Corporatism Fascist · Islamic Laissez-faire · Market economy Mercantilism · Socialist
Sectors and systems Closed · Dual · Gift Informal · Mixed · Natural Open · Participatory · Planned Subsistence · Underground Virtual
Related articles Anglo-Saxon economy American School Global economy Hunter-gatherer Information economy Newly industrialized country Palace economy Plantation economy Social market economy Token economy Traditional economy Transition economy
Business and Economics Portal
This box: view • talk • edit

A subsistence economy is an economy in which a group attempts to produce no more output per period than they must consume in that period in order to survive, but do not attempt to accumulate wealth or to transfer productivity from one period to the next. In such a system, a concept of wealth may not exist, and there is a reliance on renewal and reproduction within the natural environment. For this reason subsistence economies are often lauded by environmentalists who consider investment economies to be too much of a strain on the environment^{[citation needed]}.

Before the invention of currency, subsistence economies were the dominant economic system throughout the world. The system still survives as the primary traditional practice in several societies, including the Melanesian people of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It was also the primary practice in French Polynesia until French military personnel were stationed there in 1962, after which time there was a shift to a tourism-based system.

[edit] See also

• Hunter gatherer
• Subsistence farming

Appropriate Economic Systems in Asia, Africa & Latin America