The Rice Economies

List of figures and tables Chinese dynasties Japanese eras Preface Acknowledgements Maps Introduction    Eurocentric models of historical change    An alternative model    The significance of a model of development for rice economies       1 The rice-plant: diversity and intensification   The origins of Asian rice   Natural characteristics of rice   Selection techniques    2 Paths of technical development   Building new fields   Raising yields   Labour productivity and the mechanisation question    3 Water control   Water control and institutions: the debate   A technical classification of water control systems     Gravity-fed irrigation networks      Ponds, tanks and reservoirs      Contour canals      'Creek' irrigation    Pump irrigation schemes  Patterns of growth and change  4 Rice and the wider economy    'Skill-oriented' and 'mechanical' technologies    The specificity of wet-rice agriculture      Uniformity and systemic change    Monoculture and markets    Economic diversification    Petty commodity production and rural industrialisation  5 Development    Some basic issues    Labour and capital      The historical experience: the predominance of labour and the 'Japanese model'     Choice of technological inputs      Capital investment      Productivity of labour and capital    Expertise and participation  6 Peasant, landlord and state: changes in relations of production    Conflict, cooperation and control    Historical changes in relations of production     'Feudal' relations and frontier zones     Smallholder economies: expansion and stagnation  Egalitarianism or differentiation: the impact of capitalism  Land and landlessness    'Land to the tiller'    Group farming    Socialist land reform     Appendix A: The Western model  Appendix B: The historical experience of China  Appendix C: The Japanese experience Notes References Glossary Index