Labour productivity in Indian agriculture

Abstract

Labour Productivity in Indian Agriculture Indira Rajaraman IN their paper 'Labour Productivity in May 1983), G S Bhalla and Y K Alagh (B-A) report findings from a study of 281 districts in 16 states, in the time-periods 1962-65 and 1970-73. This note is a response to two findings reported in the paper. One is that productivity per male worker declined between the two time-periods in the set of districts taken as a whole; the other, that there was a labour suction mechanism making for a higher growth of workforce in districts where output grew faster. These will be taken in turn in the two sections that follow; the third section comments on the regression exercises performed by the authors.