Deficits in physical infrastructure, problems with availability of agricultural inputs and poor access to agriculture-related information are the major constraints on the growth of agricultural productivity in India. The more rapid growth of mobile telephony as compared to fixed line telephony...

Landslide victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in state assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh in March 2017 offers a golden opportunity to change the face of UP's agriculture and thus the fate of millions that depend on it. UP with a population of more than 220 million is the most populous state...

Bihar's agricultural development in the latest 10 years between 2005-06 and 2014-15, presents a mixed picture. Agriculture growth was around 4.7 per cent, which was above the national average of 3.6 per cent and in the latest five years, its performance was even more commendable, with an average...

Odisha is one of the poorest states in the country, with around 36 per cent of the rural population living below the poverty line. Ninety one per cent of poverty in Odisha is rural and more than 60 per cent of its workforce is engaged in agriculture. During the five years from 2010-11 to...

How deep are the roots of Latin America's economic inequalities? In this chapter we survey both the history and the literature about the region's extreme economic disparities, focusing on the most recent academic contributions. We begin by documenting the broad patterns of national and...

Protected areas are a cornerstone of forest conservation in developing countries. Yet we know little about their effects on forest cover change or the socioeconomic status of local communities, and even less about the relationship between these effects. This paper assesses whether 'win-win'...

We study the optimal and equilibrium distribution of industrial and residential land in a given region. The trade-off between the agglomeration and dispersion forces, in the form of pollution from stationary forces, environmental policy, production externalities, and commuting costs, determines...

More cattle, less deforestation? Land use intensification in the Amazon is an unexpected phenomenon. Theories of hollow frontier, speculative behaviour and boom-bust all share the prediction that livestock production will remain largely extensive. Yet between 1996 and 2006 productivity of cattle...