Colonial Economy in Crisis

The book challenges the orthodox argument that rural populations which abandoned self-sufficiency to become single commodity producers, and were supposedly very vulnerable to the commodity price collapse of the 1930s Depression, did not suffer as much as has been supposed. It shows how the effects of the depression were complicated, varying between regions, between different kinds of economic actors, and over time, and shows how the 'victims' of the depression were not passive, working imaginatively to mitigate their circumstances. Prologue: Finding the question 1. The Long View: Growth and weakness in Burma's rice economy 2. The Course of the Depression Crisis 3. Credit Contraction and Foreclosure 4. Survival Strategies and Material Circumstances 5. The Economic Foundations of Rebellion Epilogue: Memory and perspective Bibliography