Evaluation of public policies for agricultural development in less development regions

This book is a contribution to the know-how of formulation and ex-ante evaluation of public policies for regional development in general, and agricultural planning in particular. The author specifies some major objectives of regio nal (agricultural) development and based on a priori reasoning of causal connec tions develops a model of the mechanism in which a number of operator variables interdependently decide the levels of aspiration functions. The model has been estimated for two regions, Sahabad and Dharbhanga, in Bihar. Through the model several alternative strategies for agricultural development have been transformed into their impact matrices which make the basis of a comparative multi-criteria evaluation for a decisive choice of strategies.

In addition to its methodological con tent, the book provides us with an evidence of the impact of regional re source endowments and institutional structure on the economy. It corro borates a number of theories in agri cultural economics and stresses the need of regional planning approach in deve lopment planning.