Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82

This study stems from a research project in the subfield of rural economic organization, with a focus on credit and irrigation, and on how public policy in these domains influenced agricultural development. The fieldwork was carried out in three states of the Indian Union between 1980 to 1982, inclu...

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Main Author:	Bell, Clive
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2020
Subjects:	RURAL LABOR TENANCY IRRIGATION RURAL CREDIT MARKETS CREDIT INTERLINKED CONTRACTS MARKETING WELL IRRIGATION COOPERATIVES
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/671871591996073606/Tales-of-Peasants-Traders-and-Officials-Contracting-in-Rural-Andhra-Pradesh-1980-82 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33903

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recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-339032021-05-25T09:32:32Z Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82 Bell, Clive RURAL LABOR TENANCY IRRIGATION RURAL CREDIT MARKETS CREDIT INTERLINKED CONTRACTS MARKETING WELL IRRIGATION COOPERATIVES This study stems from a research project in the subfield of rural economic organization, with a focus on credit and irrigation, and on how public policy in these domains influenced agricultural development. The fieldwork was carried out in three states of the Indian Union between 1980 to 1982, including 14 villages in Andhra Pradesh. The survey covered villagers’ dealings in the markets for labor, tenancies, credit, and crops. It revealed not only diverse contractual forms in those markets, but also their interplay with access to credit and its terms. Understanding what motivates agents to contract in a particular way—or not at all—is essential in such a study. At the beginning and toward the close of the survey work, the principal investigators conducted interviews with focus groups, some respondents in the household sample, and various public officials, who were encouraged to speak freely. The first part of the monograph comprises an introductory chapter and two long travelogues, which provide structured accounts of the proceedings of those interviews. Next are formal analyses of various alternative contractual arrangements and the villagers’ choices among them. These are partly inductive; they draw on what respondents had to say about their options and decisions as well as received theory. Four topics are treated in detail: (1) the choice between employment as a casual laborer and as an attached farm servant; (2) the choice between sharecropping and fixed-rents paid in kind, with special reference to land irrigated by percolation wells; (3) the closely related matter of loans, subsidies, and corruption in connection with the profitability of investments in wells; and (4) the tying of loans for the cultivation of commercial crops to the arrangements for marketing them. The central importance of villagers’ outside options and access to credit emerges clearly. 2020-06-12T20:16:32Z 2020-06-12T20:16:32Z 2020-06-12 Book http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/671871591996073606/Tales-of-Peasants-Traders-and-Officials-Contracting-in-Rural-Andhra-Pradesh-1980-82 978-1-4648-1555-3 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33903 English International Development in Focus; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Publication South Asia India
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	RURAL LABOR TENANCY IRRIGATION RURAL CREDIT MARKETS CREDIT INTERLINKED CONTRACTS MARKETING WELL IRRIGATION COOPERATIVES
spellingShingle	RURAL LABOR TENANCY IRRIGATION RURAL CREDIT MARKETS CREDIT INTERLINKED CONTRACTS MARKETING WELL IRRIGATION COOPERATIVES Bell, Clive Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82
geographic_facet	South Asia India
relation	International Development in Focus;
description	This study stems from a research project in the subfield of rural economic organization, with a focus on credit and irrigation, and on how public policy in these domains influenced agricultural development. The fieldwork was carried out in three states of the Indian Union between 1980 to 1982, including 14 villages in Andhra Pradesh. The survey covered villagers’ dealings in the markets for labor, tenancies, credit, and crops. It revealed not only diverse contractual forms in those markets, but also their interplay with access to credit and its terms. Understanding what motivates agents to contract in a particular way—or not at all—is essential in such a study. At the beginning and toward the close of the survey work, the principal investigators conducted interviews with focus groups, some respondents in the household sample, and various public officials, who were encouraged to speak freely. The first part of the monograph comprises an introductory chapter and two long travelogues, which provide structured accounts of the proceedings of those interviews. Next are formal analyses of various alternative contractual arrangements and the villagers’ choices among them. These are partly inductive; they draw on what respondents had to say about their options and decisions as well as received theory. Four topics are treated in detail: (1) the choice between employment as a casual laborer and as an attached farm servant; (2) the choice between sharecropping and fixed-rents paid in kind, with special reference to land irrigated by percolation wells; (3) the closely related matter of loans, subsidies, and corruption in connection with the profitability of investments in wells; and (4) the tying of loans for the cultivation of commercial crops to the arrangements for marketing them. The central importance of villagers’ outside options and access to credit emerges clearly.
format	Book
author	Bell, Clive
author_facet	Bell, Clive
author_sort	Bell, Clive
title	Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82
title_short	Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82
title_full	Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82
title_fullStr	Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82
title_full_unstemmed	Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82
title_sort	tales of peasants, traders, and officials : contracting in rural andhra pradesh, 1980-82
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2020
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/671871591996073606/Tales-of-Peasants-Traders-and-Officials-Contracting-in-Rural-Andhra-Pradesh-1980-82 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33903
_version_	1764478582567993344

Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials : Contracting in Rural Andhra Pradesh, 1980-82

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