each secular cycle comprises an integrative trend followed by a disintegrative one. In the beginning of the cycle, the population grows from the minimum and is still far from the ceiling of the carrying capacity (the total number of people that the territory can feed, depending on both the amount of arable land and the current agricultural technology). As a result, real wages are high, and labor productivity is also high because land is still plentiful. In addition, most of the agricultural surplus is consumed by the producers themselves, making this period a golden age of the peasantry.
