The pastoralists in Golok earn from the caterpillar fungus economy in two main ways: from digging and selling the fungus and from leasing their land for digging. The income from these two sources differs in many aspects. Digging caterpillar fungus brings money that the pastoralists, symbolically speaking, earn with their own hands. This income depends on the time and effort they invest in work, on the weather, and on the size of the family or availability of the labour force. If the family does not have enough workers or if the season is bad, they will dig fewer fungi and earn less. But to earn this money, they not only have to find the fungus, but also to sell it successfully and this can be complicated. Selling caterpillar fungus requires good reconnaissance of the market, many visits to town, and often luck. The size of the income is also not guaranteed, since prices change fast: one can earn, but also lose out if the market declines. This income is susceptible to changes and is not guaranteed. It is often delayed as well, either because pastoralists wait for the prices to rise, or because the market jams up and the traders cannot purchase more fungus.

The income from the land leases is different. A lump sum from the fees that the diggers pay for leasing the land goes into the pastoralists’ pockets even before the season starts and regardless of any external conditions. For this money, pastoralists help diggers cross the checkpoints and offer them some protection during their stay in the mountains. Thus, the income from land leases comes principally from facilitating other people's work. It is perhaps a high-risk income, since the law forbids leasing of land to in-migrant diggers, but it is also a low-effort one and the pastoralists themselves say that this is ‘quick money’ – attractive and easy to earn. Most importantly, this money is guaranteed. It forms the basis of the pastoralists’ family budget: regardless of what happens, they can count on it in planning family expenses.

The differences between these two types of income are clear when one explores how much a pastoral household earns in a year.