Three essays on surplus labour: Evidence and conjectures

The purpose of this study is to investigate the existence of Surplus Labour in the rural areas of the poorer countries.;A two fold analysis is used to show that the magnitude of surplus labour is exaggerated and it could possible be non-existant. The 1961 Census data from India is used along with the National Sample Survey Data of 1971 to show that the largest magnitude surplus labour could take is about 1.09 percent. India is used as a case study because it has been previously used by many authors to show that surplus labour exists in large magnitude in India and other similar countries.;The Stiglitz (1969) paper is clarified and reinterpreted to show that surplus labour does not exist in the rural areas and for it to exist appropriate modifications to the production and utility function will have to be made. This result along with the conclusions drawn regarding the slope of the rural-urban supply curve and the elasticity of labour supply provide a strong refutation of the classical paradigm of surplus labour.