Vegard Iversen
Jindal School of Public Policy and University
of Manchester
Abstract:
Banerjee and Iyer (henceforth, BI) (American Economic Review, 2005)
find that districts which the British assigned to landlord revenue
systems systematically underperform districts with non-landlord based
revenue systems, especially in agricultural investment and
productivity and mainly after the onset of the Green Revolution in the
mid-1960s. On this basis, BI claim there were long-lasting effects of
the institutions established in British India on a variety of
development outcomes after independence. We correct a miscoding of the
land revenue system in Central Provinces, which BI characterise as
mostly landlord based, when reliable historical evidence suggest that
this region should have been attributed to a mixed
landlord/non-landlord based revenue system. Using a more appropriate
classification of the land revenue system of the Central Provinces
constructed from documented archival research, we find no evidence
that agricultural performance of Indian districts in the
post-independence period was adversely affected by the colonial
landlord land revenue system. Our results demonstrate that the key BI
argument that the more ‘oppressive’ landlord-based colonial land
revenue systems mattered for post-independent agricultural development
in India rests on fragile historical and statistical foundations.
Date: October 19, 2012
Time: 11:30 A.M.
Venue:
Seminar Room 2
Indian Statistical Institute Delhi Centre,
7, S. J. S. Sansanwal Marg,
New Delhi-110016 (INDIA)
Location:
View Larger Map
Jindal School of Public Policy and University
of Manchester
Abstract:
Banerjee and Iyer (henceforth, BI) (American Economic Review, 2005)
find that districts which the British assigned to landlord revenue
systems systematically underperform districts with non-landlord based
revenue systems, especially in agricultural investment and
productivity and mainly after the onset of the Green Revolution in the
mid-1960s. On this basis, BI claim there were long-lasting effects of
the institutions established in British India on a variety of
development outcomes after independence. We correct a miscoding of the
land revenue system in Central Provinces, which BI characterise as
mostly landlord based, when reliable historical evidence suggest that
this region should have been attributed to a mixed
landlord/non-landlord based revenue system. Using a more appropriate
classification of the land revenue system of the Central Provinces
constructed from documented archival research, we find no evidence
that agricultural performance of Indian districts in the
post-independence period was adversely affected by the colonial
landlord land revenue system. Our results demonstrate that the key BI
argument that the more ‘oppressive’ landlord-based colonial land
revenue systems mattered for post-independent agricultural development
in India rests on fragile historical and statistical foundations.
Date: October 19, 2012
Time: 11:30 A.M.
Venue:
Seminar Room 2
Indian Statistical Institute Delhi Centre,
7, S. J. S. Sansanwal Marg,
New Delhi-110016 (INDIA)
Location:
View Larger Map
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