This article first examines theoretically some of the Marxist and neo-Marxist arguments on the role of rural credit market and usury capital in perpetuating stagnation in backward agriculture. The data collected through surveys in two areas of Bangladesh also enable it to examine empirically some of the more recent models. It is argued in the article that the models provide only a partial analysis of the observed credit relations in Bangladesh agriculture. For a coherent and complete analysis, the totality of credit and land relations must be considered and the significant observation that a large part of loans in rural Bangladesh is provided free of interest must be put in proper perspective. The article provides an alternative analysis of rural credit relations and draws some implications for capital formation and capitalist growth in Bangladesh agriculture.

An attempt is made in this paper to analyse the structure of unemployment and underemployment in Bangladesh agriculture on the basis of a micro study. In particular, the study tries to relate the degree of underutilisation of labour with farm size on the one hand and tenurial status on the other. In view of extreme periodicity in agricultural activities, the degree of unemployment is estimated with reference to three-time periodswhole year, busiest season and busiest period. Defining withdrawable surplus of labour as the level of unemployment in the busiest period, it appears that roughly 20 per cent of the labour force can be withdrawn without adversely affecting the level of output, although only about 6 per cent of the labour force is employed throughout the year. As for the structure of unemployment, it is revealed that the employment status of the share-croppers is significantly better than that of the owner operators, and that the largest farm size class shelters the highest proportion of surplus labour for the whole year.

Changes in the trade balance of Bangladesh are analysed in this paper with the help of a theoretical framework which helps to decompose the change into price and quantity effects. The analysis is conducted in two parts pertaining to the two periods 1959/60 to 1968/69 and 1972/73 to 1974/75. It is shown that trade balance suffered adverse movement in both periods : however, in the earlier period favourable price effect substantially reduced the impact of adverse quantity changes, whereas in the latter period both price and quantity effects were unfavourable and they reinforced each other in creating adverse balance of trade.