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Capital Shortage: Credit and Indian Economic Development, 1920–1960
Author(s): Maanik Nath (Author)
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date: August 10, 2023
- Language: English
- Print length: 248 pages
- ISBN-10: 100935907X
- ISBN-13: 9781009359078
Book Description
The great majority of the population in colonial and postcolonial India lived in the countryside and were poor. Many were unable to find gainful work outside agriculture and remained dependent on a livelihood that provided only subsistence, and a precarious one. Seeking the roots of persistent poverty, Maanik Nath finds that the pervasive high cost and shortage of capital affected the peasant’s ability to invest in land. The productivity of land, as a result, remained small and changed little. Bridging economic theory and historical evidence, Capital Shortage shows that climate, law, policy design, and interactions between these factors, perpetuated a stubborn cycle of low investment and widespread deprivation over several decades. These findings can be tested against credit and development in preceding and succeeding periods as well as positioned in comparative global context.
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Bridging history and development, a study of credit scarcity, low investment and widespread poverty in colonial and postcolonial India.
About the Author
Maanik Nath is Assistant Professor in Economic and Social History at Utrecht University.
