IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jechis/v39y1979i01p143-157_09.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dearth, Famine, and Risk: The Changing Impact of Crop Failures in Western India, 1870–1920

Author

Listed:
  • McAlpin, Michelle Burge

Abstract

This article asks: why were crop failures (dearths) so frequent in western India between 1870 and 1920, and why did dearth decreasingly result in famine, that is, in severe elevation of mortality and in major disruptions of the agricultural sector. It is concluded that deficient rainfall caused the crop failures and that after 1900 increasedtrade in agricultural products and increased demand for labor, coupled with increased credit and relief services from government, significantly reduced the probability that a crop failure could result in widespread famine.

Suggested Citation

  • McAlpin, Michelle Burge, 1979. "Dearth, Famine, and Risk: The Changing Impact of Crop Failures in Western India, 1870–1920," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 143-157, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:39:y:1979:i:01:p:143-157_09
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022050700096352/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bassino, Jean-Pascal & van der Eng, Pierre, 2019. "Japan and the Asian Divergence: Market Integration, Climate Anomalies and Famines during the 18th and 19th Centuries," CEI Working Paper Series 2018-18, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Mabbs-Zeno, Carl C., 1987. "Long-Term Impacts Of Famine: Enduring Disasters And Opportunities For Progress," Staff Reports 277934, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Tirthankar Roy, 2008. "State, society and market in the aftermath of natural disasters in colonial India," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 45(2), pages 261-294, June.
    4. Collins, William J., 1999. "Labor Mobility, Market Integration, and Wage Convergence in Late 19th Century India," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 246-277, July.
    5. Andrabi, Tahir & Kuehlwein, Michael, 2010. "Railways and Price Convergence in British India," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(2), pages 351-377, June.
    6. Calixto Salomão Filho, 2015. "Monopolies and Underdevelopment," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 16587.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:39:y:1979:i:01:p:143-157_09. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/jeh .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.