Consists of three parts: an analysis of the rural power structutre, and changes in this over time in Bengal and Bihar during British rule; an indication of the major trends in the agricultural production in the region; and an examination of the extent to which some of these trends could be related to the power structure. Concludes that control over the peasant economy did not necessarily wholly derive from control over land, and the functioning of the economy over the years is not intelligible in terms of concentration of this control of diverse origins in any single local economic group. Wider development affecting the economy as a whole and the various rural classes and their interrelationships need to be identified. The autonomous role of the rural power structure in determining the shape of the economy should not be overstressed.-from Author