Persistent poverty; underdevelopment in plantation economies of the Third World [by] George L. Beckford.

Bibliography: p. 287-296.

1. Plantations in third world economy -- 2. The political economy of change in plantation economy and society: an outline -- 3. Social and political dimensions of plantation society -- 4. Changing scenes in plantation development -- 5. The dynamics of growth and the nature of metropolitan plantation enterprise -- 6. Social costs of plantations: resource misallocation in plantation economy -- 7. The dynamics of underdevelopment with plantation agriculture -- 8. Possibilities for change and transformation -- 9. A concluding note on the strategy if transformation and the general third world scene.

This book provides a multidisciplinary study of the persistent state of underdevelopment in the Caribbean, Northeast Brazil, the U.S. South, and Southeast Asia. It indicates that the particular economic, social, and political environment created by the plantation system results in a legacy of perpetual poverty for the majority of people in these areas of the world. Obstacles to progress are identified and guidelines for change are outlined.