This book sets out to investigate the process of agrarian change from new angles and with new results. It starts on firm ground rather than from abstract economic theory. Upon its initial appearance, it was heralded as "a small masterpiece, which economic historians should read--and not simply quote"--Giovanni Frederico, Economic History Services. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth remains a breakthrough in the theory of agricultural development. In linking ethnography with economy, developmental studies reached new heights. Whereas "development" had been seen previously as the transformation of traditional communities by the introduction (or imposition) of new technologies, Ester Boserup argues that changes and improvements occur from within agricultural communities, and that improvements are governed not simply by external interference, but by those communities themselves Using extensive analyses of the costs and productivity of the main systems of traditional agriculture, Ester Boserup concludes that technical, economic, and social changes are unlikely to take place unless the community concerned is exposed to the pressure of population growth.

Agrarian Change and Economic Development is a landmark volume that examines the historical experience of the relationship between agrarian change and economic development. Because agriculture was until recently man's dominant occupation, scholars have traditionally drawn little attention to its immense historical importance. The essays in this book redress this balance, and illustrate the significance of the western world's escape from an overwhelmingly agrarian condition. It is therefore an ideal work for encouraging those concerned with current problems to perceive agricultural development as professional historians see it, and to question the oversimplified historical analogies commonly employed in development economics. Presenting historical examples of change within particular agricultural systems, and discussing their implications for national economic development, both social scientists and planners less concerned with historical revision will have equal reason to welcome these case studies of the long-run interaction of agrarian change and economic activity. This classic book was first published in 1969.

This book uses a global history approach in order to reach a greater understanding of the agricultural transformation process, using a wide number of comparisons over time and space. The book seeks to identify key factors for agricultural transformation, through the use of micro level case studies, and to assess their importance in a global perspective.