British Colonial Institutions and Economic Development in India

Shilpi Kapur and Sukkoo Kim

No 12613, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We explore the impact of British colonial institutions on the economic development of India. In some regions, the British colonial government assigned property rights in land and taxes to landlords whereas in others it assigned them directly to cultivators or non-landlords. Although Banerjee and Iyer (2005) find that agricultural productivity of non-landlord areas diverged and out-performed relative to landlord areas after 1965 with the advent of the Green Revolution, we find evidence of superior economic performance of non-landlord regions in both the pre- and the post-independence periods. We believe that landlord and non-landlord regions diverged because their differing property rights institutions led to differences in incentives for development.

JEL-codes: N45 O10 P14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cwa, nep-dev and nep-soc
Note: DAE CF
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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