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Abstract
This paper examines the impact of the seed-fertilizer-irrigation technology (simply the new technology or green revolution) on income distribution and rural poverty in Bangladesh. An agricultural wage determination model is developed for Bangladesh which shows that the new technology has the potential for raising the real wage rate, employment and output, but the impact of the new technology on income distribution between landowners and labourers depends much on whether the technology is labour-saving. Econometric results suggest that although the new technology did not increase the agricultural real wage rate, it lowered the rate of unemployment and underemployment and changed the occupational structure of the labour force, a result of which was the reduction of the incidence of rural poverty in Bangladesh in recent years. Econometric results also suggest that the new technology did not intensify the inequality of income in the rural areas of Bangladesh by raising the incidence of landlessness and near-landlessness.