Land concentration and rural poverty c.2

The explanation for the persistence and even accentuation of underdevelopment lies in the social forces and institutional structures which affect economic incentives, the pattern of production and growth, and the distribution of income. The processes at work can be described in terms of a system of labour controls which simultaneously produces 'surplus' labour, inefficient use of land and low incomes. In most countries the linchpin in the system is the concentration of land ownership in a few hands. It is for this reason that the remedy for rural poverty lies in radical reforms and the creation of either small peasant farms or communal tenure arrangements based on labour-intensive methods of cultivation.
The argument of the book consists not of a single narrative but of a series of commentaries and seven case-studies drawn from North Africa, Latin America and Asia. In contrast to those who blame poverty on unfavourable and uncontrollable weather cycles or on relentless Malthusian pressures, these studies illustrate the proposition that the well-being of the rural work force largely depends on the distribution of landed wealth and the terms on which cultivators have access to other productive fesources. In other words, poverty is a product of a social system and can be eliminated by changing the social system which produced it.
In the second edition a new final chapter discusses land concentration and rural poverty in twelve Asian nations. The majority of these countries are classified among the most impoverished on earth, and thus the chapter enables one to compare the situation between the very poor and the not quite so poor.