Creating wealth does not lie in the subsistent labor way of life. Subsistent labor norms encompass the simple fact that minimum expenditure of physical labor is the way to the good life while trying to produce just enough food to last until the next harvest through the control of land. Though, not always the smartest way to live life, many peasant farmers and villages would endure many years of hunger and hardship in order to just get by with minimal labor and to just preserve the aspects of subsistence labor norms.
Subsistence farming is self-sufficiency farming in which the focus is on just growing enough food to feed themselves
and their families. These peasants usually build their own shelters and usually live without making any purchases from the markets. So, the average farmer is influenced to grow and harvest a range of crops and animals by first the need of their families and second the prices ranging at the markets.
In order to cultivate a feasible subsistent way of life, peasant farmers secure themselves by control of land rather than monetary income. In order to maximize labor and keep in control of their land, peasant adults would seek to transfer as much labor as possible through bearing as many children as they could. If they lose control of their land, they have no choice but to perform continuous commercial labor norms assigned to them.
Commercial labor is a superior norm because fewer people working longer hours are required to produce substantial harvests when compared to the subsistent labor norms. Commercial labor forces peasants to become full time paid agriculture laborers or forces them to migrate to cities, or emigrate to North America as indentured servants in search of subsistence opportunities.
Further, rent is raised on remaining tenants which induces per capita labor expenditures which then produces an assured surplus at the end of the year to be sold in the markets. Thus, commercial labor norms minimizes any inefficiencies then maximizing labor and production possibilities creating greater nation-wide development.