Poverty and Landlessness in Rural Asia. A World Employment Study. Geneva: International Labour Office. 1977: pp.288.

This is a remarkable volume. Not so much for what it says as much as for what it never gets around to saying. The introduction states that this is the “first major research study to be published under the rural component” of the World Employment Programme. The volume consists of studies of various aspects of rural income distribution in: Pakistan (S.M. Naseem); Indian Punjab (Indira Rajaraman); Uttar Pradesh (Rohini Nayyor); Bihar (Rohini Nayyor); Tamil Nadu (C.T. Kurien); Bangladesh (A.R. Khan); Sri Lanka (E.L.H. Lee); West Malaysia (E.L.H. Lee); Java (Ingrid Palmer); Philippines (A.R. Khan); and China (A.R. Khan). There is also an anonymous introduction which attempts a synthesis and summary.