Power and accumulation in food grain markets: a case study of the Pakistani Punjab

I aim to study the structure of food grain markets in the Pakistani Punjab using a political economy perspective that views the economy and, specifically, agricultural food grain markets not simply thorough the neo-classical lens of static allocative efficiency but, continuing in the tradition of Harriss-White, Ben Crow, Maureen Mackintosh etc, highlights price formation, resource transfers, poverty and enrichment, growth etc through the dynamic lens of class, state, gender and caste.

This framework will hopefully provide answers to how food price inflation arises in the structure of grain markets of Pakistani Punjab, how these markets respond to internal and external shock, their differential impact on different classes of producers, processors and traders, how exchange relations assist surplus transfers and what impact these have on poverty and wellbeing, as well as agricultural growth.