Economic theory of agrarian institutions/ edited by Pranab Bardhan

The 18 specially commissioned contributions to this book squarely face the issue of theorizing about the rationale and consequences of some economic institutions and contractual arrangements that are particularly prominent in poor agrarian economies. New analytical methods are applied to the study of the institutions, their origin, maintenance and adaptation, which play such an important role in agrarian relations and rural development. After an introductory section which discusses theories of institutions and rural organization, the chapters fall into four main sections on land and labour, credit and interlinked transactions, marketing and insurance, and

co-operatives, technology and the State. This work begins a line of enquiry into a hitherto largely unexplored area, and will greatly interest scholars and students of development economics, agricultural economics, institutional economics and development sociology.