Land Reform and Agricultural Productivity in India Economics Honors Seminar Final draft

This thesis aims to review and contribute to the literature on land reform and economic development. It does so by evaluating the impact of land reforms in India on agricultural modernization in twelve states over the years 1961-1987. The main findings are although there is limited evidence of the successful implementation of land reforms, adoption of tenancy reforms seems to have a significant positive association with some measures of modernization, and fragmentation arising from land ceiling laws is negatively correlated to modernization. Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Professor Jay Mandle, Professor Carolina Castilla, Professor Takao Kato and Professor Dean Scrimgeour for their advice and guidance in completing this work.