Tales of Peasants, Traders, and Officials

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.
[Washington: 2020]

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