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State, society and market in the aftermath of natural disasters in colonial India

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  • Tirthankar Roy

    (Tirthankar Roy is at London School of Economics and Political Science)

Abstract

How did South Asian societies rebuild their economies following natural disasters? Based on five episodes from colonial India, this article suggests that between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century, the response to disasters changed from laissez-faire to more state intervention. Despite this change, post-disaster rebuilding was complicated by unspecified rights to lost property, conflicting claims to property, asymmetric information between aid-givers and receivers, conflicts between agencies, lack of cooperation between gainers and losers, and in some of these examples, clashes between the colonial state and nationalist organisations.

Suggested Citation

  • Tirthankar Roy, 2008. "State, society and market in the aftermath of natural disasters in colonial India," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 45(2), pages 261-294, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:indeco:v:45:y:2008:i:2:p:261-294
    DOI: 10.1177/001946460804500204
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Tirthankar Roy, 2010. "‘THE LAW OF STORMS’: EUROPEAN AND INDIGENOUS RESPONSES TO NATURAL DISASTERS IN COLONIAL INDIA, c. 1800–1850," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(1), pages 6-22, March.

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