Description: The eight papers in this volume look at several issues: the role of the state and colonial policy in influencing the conditions and structure of agrarian change and industrialization in south India; the differences in business activity and state policy in the princely states, in contrast to British India; sub-regional variations in the commercialization process as linked to ecological and demographic factors as well as investments in infrastructure; and the dynamics of land transfer and peasant stratification. Some of the essays also consider the working of the capitalist plantation sector, the movement of agro-commercial capital and industry, and the effects of the colonial framework within which institutions were formed and technologies disseminated in arenas as diverse as agricultural production and public health. Each of the eight papers, representing case studies of some of these issues at the regional and sub-regional level, attempts to throw light on the structure and dynamics of a regional economy. The contributors are all well-reputed economists or economic historians, and this book will interest all who study Indian economic and social history as well as the impact of colonialism upon local populations.

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