Events

Drivers of Agricultural Growth in British India

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)

Date: June 18, 2026

Time: 16:00 – 17:30
16:00 (Hong Kong/Beijing/Singapore)
04:00 (New York)|01:00 (Los Angeles)|09:00 (London)|17:00 (Tokyo)|18:00 (Sydney)

Venue: Zoom Webinar

Language: English

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]).

Conveners: Professors Zhiwu Chen & Chicheng Ma