A Policy of Credit Disruption: The Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900

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Authors
Chaudhary, Latika
Swamy, Anand V.
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Date of Issue
2018-10
Date
2018-10
Publisher
Williams College
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Abstract
If land is titled and transferable, it can be used as collateral against which money can be borrowed. The resulting increase in access to credit is usually expected to foster economic growth. We study a policy in colonial India that made land less available as collateral for debt. Using a panel dataset for Punjab districts from 1890 to 1910, we find that this reduced the availability of mortgage-backed credit, but did not hurt proxies for economic development such as acreage and cattle, at least in the short run.
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Article
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Williams College
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Format
34 p.
Citation
Chaudhary, Latika, and Anand V. Swamy. "A Policy of Credit Disruption: The Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900." (2018).
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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