A History of Underdevelopment and Political Economy of Inflation in Sri Lanka

The book provides a new conceptualisation of inflation in underdeveloped economies, through Sri Lanka's historical experience. It outlines a general theory of nationalisms in their diverse manifestations across the world, within a historical perspective of capitalist development and underdevelopment. The book, therefore, seeks to capture the production mode holistically, within both its infrastructural and superstructural levels probing their interactions. The theoretical structure through which inflation is analysed synthesises the theory of unproductive labour and Marxian theory of prices of production with labour surplus theory of late Dr. S. B. D. De Silva in the context of underdevelopment. In this light, Professor David Laibman's Allocation Problem is resolved within a Marxist framework to provide an operational significance to the theory and its application. In the same vein the book also provides a new theoretical interpretation of Sri Lanka's historical development fromthe British period onwards through application of theories of capitalist development and surplus labour.

Applies Marxist theory of mode of production to understand inflation in an underdeveloped economy Questions the validity of Monetarism which is currently the accepted mode of thinking in explaining causes of inflation Portrays unique characteristics of the peasant sector in Sri Lanka that contributes to inflation

Autorentext
Dhanusha Gihan Pathirana has been an Economist for nearly 10 years at Asia Capital PLC, Sri Lanka, a multinational investment bank operating within the Asian region based in Sri Lanka. Dr. Chandana Aluthge has 24 years of experience as a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and is currently a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the university. He published a number of journal articles and presented papers on issues pertaining to Finance and Economic Development in Sri Lanka. He holds a PhD in Economics from Free University Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Inhalt
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Towards a Theory of Inflation in Underdeveloped Economies.- Chapter 3: Plantations and Rise of the Merchant cum Usurer Class during British Rule in Sri Lanka.- Chapter 4: Research Methodology.- Chapter 5: Results and Discussion.- Chapter 6: Pattern of Capital Formation, Surplus Labour and Inflation: Historical Evidence.