Measurement of Regulations of the Agricultural Produce Markets

Effective regulation of agricultural produce markets has been increasingly recognised as an important institution for agricultural sector development. This article provides the construction of a composite time-varying de jure quantitative index measuring a specific legislative institution of colonial lineage--the Agricultural Produce Markets Committee Act & Rules across 14 Indian states for the period 1970-2008. Rankings of states in terms of the APMC index show varying time trends: Maharashtra and Punjab witness a stable and high ranking historically. The top gainers in terms of ranking are Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The top losers in terms of ranking are Bihar, Gujarat and Odisha. Gujarat and Bihar ranked at 6th and 12th position respectively in 1970 but their ranks deteriorated to 11th and 14th position in 2008. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam show relative improvement in terms of magnitude of the APMC index but continue to rank poorly. Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan maintained ranks at the higher side most of the time period.