At the beginning of the 21st century an idealized view of markets informs government policy. Real differences in how markets interact with social change are obscured and public action on poverty is constrained. This book uses a detailed study of the grain trade in Bangladesh to show how socially-constrained patterns of market involvement may systematically benefit the rich while disadvantaging the poor. The book suggests that markets are implicated in the making of society, its division, identities, and directions.
Author(s): Ben Crow
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 285
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
List of tables......Page 9
List of figures......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 14
Glossary......Page 16
1 Exploring Market Diversity......Page 20
2 Class and Change in the South Asian Countryside......Page 39
3 The Diversity of Exchange......Page 65
4 Grain Outflows: Advantage Rich, Disadvantage Poor......Page 107
5 The Markets of Adversity, or Why the Rich Don't Buy Rice......Page 133
6 Why are Big Traders Big and Small Traders Small?......Page 156
7 Why is Agrarian Growth Uneven?......Page 193
8 Local Consequences of Global Policy......Page 214
9 Diverse Markets and Public Action......Page 231
Appendix: Identifying Class......Page 250
Notes......Page 264
References......Page 267
Index......Page 277
