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Agrarian Contracts in Retrospect: Two Bihari Villages in 1970

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Abstract

The object of this essay is to describe and analyse contractual relations in two villages in North-east Bihar at a time when the so-called ‘green revolution’ promised much and the region had just started to benefit from canal irrigation. It is against this historical background that I will examine, with the benefit of hindsight, the functioning of the markets for labour and tenancies, and their interplay with those for draught power and credit. Theory sheds much light on why such richly diverse arrangements prevailed, but despite notable subsequent advances, it still leaves certain important questions without a fully satisfactory answer.

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  • Bell, Clive, 2016. "Agrarian Contracts in Retrospect: Two Bihari Villages in 1970," Working Papers 0622, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:awi:wpaper:0622
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    4. Rodgers, G B, 1975. "Nutritionally Based Wage Determination in the Low-Income Labour Market," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 27(1), pages 61-81, March.
    5. Lanjouw, Peter & Stern, Nicholas, 1998. "Economic Development in Palanpur over Five Decades," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288329.
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    7. D. Gale Johnson, 1950. "Resource Allocation under Share Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(2), pages 111-111.
    8. Bell, Clive & Zusman, Pinhas, 1976. "A Bargaining Theoretic Approach to Cropsharing Contracts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(4), pages 578-588, September.
    9. Bliss, C. J. & Stern, N. H., 1982. "Palanpur: The Economy of an Indian Village," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198284192.
    10. Otsuka, Keijiro & Chuma, Hiroyuki & Hayami, Yujiro, 1992. "Land and Labor Contracts in Agrarian Economies: Theories and Facts," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 1965-2018, December.
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    Keywords

    agrarian contracts; Bihar; village studies;
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