Measures of Economic Status - Combining Income and Wealth into a Single Measure of the Potential Command Over Goods and Services

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussion on the way that economists, statisticians and analysts treat the wealth of agricultural households and changes in that wealth not arising from production. The concept of "economic status" is revisited and the implications of using it when making comparisons of agricultural households with other groups in society is reviewed. A more explicit treatment of capital and wealth is proposed.