IDSS Presents: Agrarian Development and Public Policy in West Bengal, India
Speaker: |
Dilip Mookherjee |
Date: |
November 22, 2013 |
Time: |
12:00 PT / 3:00 ET |
Location: |
RAND Corporation |
About the Presentation
The first part of this talk will review the effects of the agrarian policies on agricultural growth and poverty reduction that occurred during 1980-2000 in West Bengal, a state in eastern India, which has a population of over 80 million most of whom reside in rural areas. In the 1970s and 1980s a large scale land reform was combined with creation of a system of local governments delegated responsibility to implement the reforms. The land reforms combined distribution of surplus land to the landless, protection of tenants, and provision of cheap credit, seeds and fertilizers. The second part of the talk will review emerging challenges over the past decade, and possible directions for future policies.
Listen to the PodcastAbout the Speaker
Dilip Mookherjee is Professor of Economics and the Director of the Institute for Economic Development at Boston University. He specializes in the area of incentives and institutions. His recent research includes tax enforcement and public administration reforms; the role of inequality; and land reforms and contracting structures in developing countries. His main field experience has been in India. Mookherjee is the author of numerous journal articles and conference papers. He has authored, edited, or co-edited eleven books. His most recent monograph is The Crisis in Government Accountability: Governance Reforms and Indian Economic Performance. Mookherjee is also a former co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics and a board member of the Bureau for Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD).
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