ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides the economics, history, development studies and global history of colonial India. It shows the arguments of the nationalist/Marxist view of India's changing position in world manufacturing as a result of colonial policy. The Company's capture of state power reduced the bargaining power of Indian weavers and merchants and undermined the textile industry. India's shrinking share of the world textile market after the Industrial Revolution is widely viewed in the literature as a period of 'deindustrialization', as Ray documents in a systematic way. The book focuses on slow productivity growth in agriculture arising from a failure to bring about technological change. It focuses on the wage earners in modern industry. It discusses the Great Divergence in living standards with new statistical methodology.
