James T Peach - Böcker

The relationship between the agrarian structure of Bangladesh and its problems of rural development is established in this study based on four years (1975-79) of field research. The authors suggest that the concentration of land in the hands of a rural elite is the principal impediment to the participation of weaker sections of the peasantry in economic progress. Tracing the failure of local attempts to change Bangladesh's agrarian structure by legislative means, they outline a modified program for rural development that is linked to agrarian reform. Agrarian reform, Drs. Jannuzi and Peach argue, is the prerequisite for a rural development strategy that provides for both economic growth and improved income distribution; thus, approaches to rural development in Bangladesh that place reliance on new agricultural technology without first changing the institutions that determine peoples' relationships to the land are not viable. The authors' policy recommendations, grounded in new data on the relative proportions of owners of land, sharecroppers, and the landless, are supplemented by a theoretical analysis of the institution of sharecropping and detailed field work methodology.

The relationship between the agrarian structure of Bangladesh and its problems of rural development is established in this study based on four years (1975-79) of field research. The authors suggest that the concentration of land in the hands of a rural elite is the principal impediment to the participation of weaker sections of the peasantry in economic progress. Tracing the failure of local attempts to change Bangladesh's agrarian structure by legislative means, they outline a modified program for rural development that is linked to agrarian reform. Agrarian reform, Drs. Jannuzi and Peach argue, is the prerequisite for a rural development strategy that provides for both economic growth and improved income distribution; thus, approaches to rural development in Bangladesh that place reliance on new agricultural technology without first changing the institutions that determine peoples' relationships to the land are not viable. The authors' policy recommendations, grounded in new data on the relative proportions of owners of land, sharecroppers, and the landless, are supplemented by a theoretical analysis of the institution of sharecropping and detailed field work methodology.

Most principles of economics texts are predicated narrowly on the concept of scarcity as a fundamental force, but that is only one aspect of economics. This supplemental text for basic and intermediate level undergraduates provides a serious discussion of the concept of abundance - what it means, how we can move toward it, and what keeps us from doing so. The authors first outline the development of the concept of abundance and its meaning with discussions of the roles of population, resources, and the environment. Then they consider why abundance escapes us, focusing on the detrimental roles of four predatory behaviors - classism, nationalism, sexism, and racism. As a remedy, they propose a policy of universal employment as a replacement for full employment, and explore the effects of pushing the unemployment rate down to absolute zero.