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Some Aspects of the Contemporary Agrarian Question

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  • Utsa Patnaik

Abstract

This article argues that the first industrializing nations like Britain historically met a large part of their food needs through tax or rent-financed imports and re-exports, from today’s developing countries. It points out a fallacy in Ricardo’s theory of mutual benefit for both trading partners from specialization and exchange, arising from its assumption that both countries produce both goods. Developing countries did not benefit but experienced falling per head output of basic staples, severely undermining food security for their own populations, both historically and under current trade liberalization, which has again shifted cropping patterns towards exports. The direct colonial taxation of the past to suppress domestic mass demand is replaced by income-deflating fiscal measures under the neo-liberal regime. It discusses why globally grain consumption per head is positively associated with per head income, and argues that the observed decline in India, as its income rises, can only reflect absolute decline in consumption for the already under-nourished majority.

Suggested Citation

  • Utsa Patnaik, 2012. "Some Aspects of the Contemporary Agrarian Question," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 1(3), pages 233-254, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:agspub:v:1:y:2012:i:3:p:233-254
    DOI: 10.1177/227797601200100301
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Yotopoulos, Pan A, 1985. "Middle-Income Classes and Food Crises: The "New" Food-Feed Competition," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(3), pages 463-483, April.
    2. Liam Brunt, 1999. "Estimating English Wheat Production in the Industrial Revolution," Economics Series Working Papers 1999-W29, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Robert C. Allen, 1999. "Tracking the agricultural revolution in England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 52(2), pages 209-235, May.
    4. Liam Brunt, 1999. "Estimating English Wheat Production in the Industrial Revolution," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _029, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
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