Economic surveys in under-developed countries : study in methodology C.2

A New approach to research in agricultural economics has been attempted in this study. This approach is, first, one of "macro analysis" rather than "micro-analysis". This means that to survey a highly integrated economic structure such as the self subsisting village community, it is necessary to attack the problem as a whole, even at the risk of covering a very wide field, rather than look into different constituent parts of it in isolation. Secondly, this approach is inter-linked with and conditioned by the peculiar economic and social features present in a particular area. For examp it is attempted to get information about the functions. of a farm-family enterprise or an artisan-family enterprise as they actually occur without trying to have artificial data about income, expenditure, farm-costs, wages, etc., separately, since it is quite well known that these enterprises combine both producing and consuming activities and it is a difficult if not an impossible task to get data about separate activities. Thirdly, the purpose is to study those economies with the help of the redefined concepts in their dynamic aspects. This type of economy is in a transition stage from a primitive economy to a developed one. The present work will try to give methods of studying and, if possible, of measur ing the nature of this transition. To make it more clear, by an example, whether the rural economy in India is really progressing from a self-sufficient and subsistence stage to an inter-dependent one with different regions or not, will be the object of this analysis.