ABSTRACT
Despite the existence of a number of classic studies in the field, 'primitive' economics has remained one of the most neglected branches of anthropological inquiry. The methodology of economics differs greatly from that of social anthropology. Much of modern economics tends to be concerned mainly with macrocosmic studies carried out with carefully prepared sampling techniques based on available statistics. The systematic collection of economic data requires, therefore, a number of different schedules dealing with the various aspects of production, consumption, and exchange. The collection of household budgets is coming to be recognized as an essential part of anthropological fieldwork. This is so because budgets can throw light on a number of problems with which the social anthropologist is concerned. Consumption statistics must be collected from the same households, or economic entities, from which the production data were collected. Budget data may be limited to purely cash transactions.
