Poverty, Inequality and Prices in Rural India

Can poverty be measured and defined? What are the socio-economic correlates of poverty? Providing a comprehensive analysis of the absolute and relative levels of poverty in rural India, Poverty, Inequality and Prices in Rural India covers a thirty-year period. Topics examined include: disparities in consumption across households; the trends in such disparities; and the trends in the incidence of absolute poverty. By applying these analyses to rural India as a whole as well as six selected states, the authors test their theory of intertemporal variations in the incidence of rural poverty. With its comprehensive approach and unique theoretical model, Poverty, Inequality and Prices in Rural India presents a fresh perspective for scholars and students interested in economics, development studies, sociology, and Third World studies. "This study provides both a comprehensive analysis of the interrelationship between prices, rural inequality and poverty, and a careful interpretation of a wide range of complex and varied empirical materials. It is relevant as a standard reference text to anyone interested in understanding the multifaceted patterns of socio-economic changes that have occurred in rural India since independence." --Canadian Journal of Development Studies "A grandly conceived work." --Frontier "The book is written in a non-technical language that is accessible to noneconomists, and it provides a good introduction to the way changes in the prices of rural commodities have affected the incidence of rural poverty." --Journal of Asian Studies "The book is . . . concise and well written. I benefitted from reading it and I suspect that most people interested in Indian development would enjoy reading it." --Pacific AffairsBhattacharya, Nikhilesh is the author of 'Poverty, Inequality and Prices in Rural India' with ISBN 9780803996854 and ISBN 0803996853.