Rural Transition in Azerbaijan: (Rural Economies in Transition)

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Chapter 1. Azerbaijan: The Country and the People Chapter 3 Chapter 2. Policy and Agricultural Development in Azerbaijan Chapter 4 Chapter 3. The Design and Implementation of Land Reform Chapter 5 Chapter 4. Outcomes of Reform: Transition to Individual Farming and Sector Recovery Chapter 6 Chapter 5. Outcomes of Reform: Rural Incomes and Poverty Chapter 7 Chapter 6. Conclusion: Looking Beyond Agrarian Reform in Azerbaijan

About the Author :
Zvi Lerman is professor and Sir Henry d'Avigdor Goldsmid Chair in Agricultural Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is author of Agriculture in Transition: Land Policies and Evolving Farm Structures in Post-Soviet Countries. David J. Sedik is Chief of the Policy Assistance Branch responsible for the development of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN field program, rendering agricultural policy advice to member countries, and assembling country information in the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.

Review :
This is a careful, comprehensive and scholarly work which documents the path of agricultural and rural reform in Azerbaijan and persuasively links rural economic performance to policy decisions. Because of the solid economic analysis and the cogent comparisons with other transition economies, it is far more than a study of Azerbaijan. It is a treatise on how policies drive economic performance and how policy differences can explain divergent performance paths in transition economies. Azerbaijan is one of the few countries which instituted a land reform leading to high agricultural performance. Hence, this book is much more than just a country-specific case study. It will spur the debate on the design of land reform and farm sizes andits impact on world agriculture. It should be required reading for academics and policy makers who want to understand the present poor performance of agriculture in many transition and developing countries and who want to develop policy alternatives whichmake the disadvantaged in the world more self-sufficient. Ulrich Koester, Kiel Universityyy Azerbaijan is one of the few countries which instituted a land reform leading to high agricultural performance. Hence, this book is much more than just a country-specific case study. It will spur the debate on the design of land reform and farm sizes and its impact on world agriculture. It should be required reading for academics and policy makers who want to understand the present poor performance of agriculture in many transition and developing countries and who want to develop policy alternatives which make the disadvantaged in the world more self-sufficient. Ulrich Koester, Kiel University