This paper studies the relationship between land revenue systems and returns to agricultural labour in colonial India. I provide the first district-level comparative estimates of agricultural labour returns relative to average income, on the basis of wage/income ratios for 1916. I then use those estimates to analyse the impact of the land revenue systems established by the British colonial authorities. Results show that districts with a larger proportion of non-landlord land revenue systems presented higher relative wages, closer to the average income. This effect was mainly driven by differences in land concentration connected to the type of landownership introduced by land revenue systems.

中文翻译：

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殖民制度能否解释劳动力回报的差异？来自殖民地印度农村的证据

本文研究了殖民地印度的土地收入制度与农业劳动力回报之间的关系。我根据 1916 年的工资/收入比率，首次对农业劳动力回报相对于平均收入的地区水平进行了比较估计。然后，我使用这些估计来分析英国殖民当局建立的土地收入制度的影响。结果显示，非地主土地收入制度比例较高的地区，相对工资较高，更接近平均收入。这种影响主要是由于土地集中度的差异与土地收入制度引入的土地所有权类型有关。