agrarian scissors

Definitions

The disparity between the prices of agricultural and industrial products.

plural, plural-only

Examples

“For a time it looked as if even ideological protests against the ruling system had been discredited. But the traditional wounds of the country were still there, and they soon began to bleed⟳ again, partly because of the stopping of emigration to America, partly because of the “agrarian scissors” which put⟳ the living standard of the people on a starvation level.”

“The price of wheat was down now to 7.76 gold francs per quintal, opening the “agrarian scissors” to the extraordinary angle of 70.4 per cent. […]”

“The agrarian scissors were set⟳ at an angle of 59.4% as late as 1940, and the living standard was 33% to 64% lower than it had been in 1916.”

CEFR level