Histories of agrarian capitalism have often been constrained by the implications of Robert Brenner's work on the subject. This essay, employing archival and secondary research on Ecuador's long 19th century experiences with cacao capitalism, argues that production processes and localized forms of accumulation, rather than class structure and legal relations, should be included in our definition of the concept. By focusing on how fixed capital in cacao trees and the production of the yearly cacao commodity responded to global demand and local material conditions, I propose amplifying the concept of agrarian capitalism, as well as a rethinking of coastal Ecuador's history of capitalist development. I highlight how both absolute and relative forms of surplus value generation coexisted in coastal Ecuador's cacao haciendas, while demonstrating how financial instruments used for extending the cacao frontier undermined the prospects for long‐term growth.

中文翻译：

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厄瓜多尔沿海的可可资本主义：19世纪漫长的非过渡性农业资本主义的生产过程和积累

农业资本主义的历史常常受到罗伯特·布伦纳（Robert Brenner）在这个问题上的著作的影响。本文采用对厄瓜多尔19世纪可可资本主义长期经验的档案和中学研究，认为在我们对该概念的定义中应包括生产过程和积累的局部形式，而不是阶级结构和法律关系。通过关注可可树上的固定资本和年生可可商品的生产如何响应全球需求和当地物质条件，我建议扩大农业资本主义的概念，并重新思考沿海厄瓜多尔的资本主义发展历史。我着重强调厄瓜多尔沿海的可可庄园如何同时存在绝对形式和相对形式的剩余价值创造，