Table of Contents
Description
Maanik Nath of Utrecht University and his co-author investigate the impact of public investments on agricultural incomes across colonial India. Using new data in a difference-in-differences framework, it shows that districts with access to canal irrigation experienced a 22% increase in agricultural incomes, alongside a three to six percentage-point decline in subsistence cropping. In this Quantitative History webinar, Maanik Nath will discuss how canal irrigation effects remained positive throughout the colonial period and were especially pronounced in arid areas. The research also highlights how imperial policy persistently prioritized railway expansion while underinvesting in canal irrigation—an oversight that constrained agricultural growth in parts of colonial India.
Maanik Nath co-author: Vigyan D. Ratnoo (Assistant Professor, Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University)
About the Quantitative History Webinar Series
The Quantitative History (QH) Webinar Series aims to provide researchers, teachers, and students with an online intellectual platform to keep up to date with the latest research in the field, promoting the dissemination of research findings and interdisciplinary use of quantitative methods in historical research. The QH Webinar Series, now entering its sixth year, is co-organized by the Centre for Quantitative History at the HKU Business School and the International Society for Quantitative History in partnership with the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Series is now substantially supported by the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. [AoE/B-704/22-R]).
量化歷史網上講座系列由香港大學陳志武和馬馳騁教授聯合發起，旨在介紹前沿量化歷史研究成果、促進同仁交流，推廣量化方法在歷史研究中的應用。本系列講座由香港大學經管學院量化歷史研究中心和國際量化歷史學會承辦，及香港人文社會研究所全力支持。從2023年開始，系列得到中國香港特別行政區研究資助局卓越學科領域計劃的重要資助 (項目編號[AoE/B-704/22-R])。
Conveners: Professors Zhiwu Chen & Chicheng Ma (HKU Business School)
