The Economic History of India, 1857-2010

Description

From the end of the eighteenth century, two distinct global processes began to transform livelihoods and living conditions in the South Asia region. These were the rise of British colonial rule and globalization, that is, the integration of the region in the emerging world markets for goods, capital, and labour services. Two hundred years later, India was the home to many of the world's poorest people as well as one of the fastest growing market economies in the world. Does a study of the past help to explain the paradox of growth amidst poverty? The Economic History of India: 1857-2010 claims that the roots of this paradox go back to India's colonial past, when internal factors like geography and external forces like globalization and imperial rule created prosperity in some areas and poverty in others.
Looking at the recent scholarship in this area, this revised edition covers new subjects like environment and princely states. The author sets out the key questions that a study of long-run economic change in India should begin with and shows how historians have answered these questions and where the gaps remain.

About the author

Tirthankar Roy is Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom.

Table of contents

List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Abbreviations
1. INTRODUCTION
2. TRANSITION TO COLONIALISM: 1707-1857
3. THE PATTERN OF ECONOMIC GROWTH: 1857-1947
4. AGRICULTURE
5. SMALL-SCALE INDUSTRY
6. LARGE-SCALE INDUSTRY
7. PLANTATIONS, MINES, BANKING
8. INFRASTRUCTURE
9. HOW THE GOVERNMENT WORKED
10. POPULATION
11. THE ECONOMY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
12. THE PRINCELY STATES
13. ECONOMIC CHANGE IN INDIA 1950-2010
14. CONCLUSION
SELECTED SOURCES
GLOSSARY OF INDIAN TERMS
INDEX
About the Author