Kerala's mortality level has been lower than West Bengal's at least since the early 20th century. The difference became sharper in the 1970s. The wider distribution of health facilities in the rural areas of Kerala and their greater utilisation are found to be significant factors. Historically,...

Bardhan puts together estimates of a large number of demographic, agricultural, technological, economic and institutional variables useful for analysis of variations, across NSS (National Sample Surveys) regions, in the early 1970s. The data have been employed to do a statistical analysis of the...