Verses 16 and 17 are probably causally connected. The ability to increase productivity with fewer able-bodied men would necessitate adjusted social roles. The women likely took on more responsibilities for farming and herding, naturally increasing the productivity of both. Obviously households without an able-bodied male were disadvantaged, even with the expanded labor of women and children, simply because there would have been fewer hands for the work. A widow might be able to grow corn, but she could not cultivate as much land as she and her husband could have done together.
Given these economic constraints, Limhi introduces a policy of communal sharing, somewhat similar to that described by Alma and his people. It is not necessarily a religious response (although religion provides a powerful motivation for such sharing). The reduced population means that individuals would have a greater number of contacts, better information about each person’s well-being, and obviously a greater need to share rather than create divisions based on the creation or distribution of life’s basic necessities.