Economic development and agricultural productivity

A conference volume, Economic Development and Agricultural Productivity, ed ited by Amit Bhaduri and Rune Skarstein, is reviewed. The aim of the confer ence was to address the causes of low agricultural productivity in underdev eloped economies, and a group of scholars from various disciplines was invi ted to consider that issue. Four sets of themes are covered: historical per spectives on agricultural productivity (with papers by Robert Brenner and P aul Bairoch), the role of the price mechanism (with papers by Servaas Storm and Hans-Bern Schafer, both on India); the influence of class relations an d the role of the state (with papers by Amit Bhaduri, Solon Barraclough, Ma hmoud Abdel-Fadil and Kjell J. Havnevik and Rune Skarstein, which relate, r espectively, to India, Latin America, Egypt and Tanzania); and ecological s ustainability (with papers by Juan Martinez-Alier and Lawrence Busch). The papers are discussed and some critical, political economy perspectives on t hem are suggested.