The researcher/writer of this web page wants to communicate with those who find this solution to the Kerala puzzle interesting or wish to pursue ancillary questions. William M. Alexander, Emeritus Professor of World Food Politics, California Polytechnic State University. He resides at 637 Bambi Lane, Santa Rosa, CA 94509 and may be reached at (walexand@calpoly.edu) or 707 573 4560.  Comments received can improve this web page.

Teaching development administration and food politics at Cal Poly, he began to suspect a thought simplification common in the social sciences---personal self interest is the basis of all human behavior---as the cause of much misunderstanding. He noticed the comment of an authority on hunger and population. "Kerala's success in improving the welfare of its people and in achieving fertility decline cannot be explained by exceptional affluence in the state. On the contrary, the per capita incomes in Kerala are in fact lower than the average for all Indian states." (Murdoch p 75)

Like most scientists, Alexander loves a challenging riddle. He undertook to solve "A Mystery Inside a Riddle Inside an Enigma", as the Scientific American referred to Kerala. (Wallich) Under the sponsorship of the Institute for Food and Development Policy and supported by Earthwatch Expeditions, Alexander worked as principle investigator, l989-1993, studying resource use in India.

Eventually as Alexander put Kerala into the special context of India, the mystery of Kerala inside the enigma of India began to unravel. Hunting for differences between Kerala and India to explain the high well-being in Kerala, the "ah-ha moment" occurred. Looking through an ancient copy of the Enclopedea Britanica, he found a note on Travencore, a princely state later to be a part of Kerala. He noticed population data which showed more women than men. He immediately looked up the Punjab and as may be expected in an undeveloped country in 1871, there were more men than women.

This web page is an outline of a book. Alexander lacks the writing skills to prepare it for a publisher. Rather he hopes to attract others to the rewards of applying their writing skills.

(walexand@calpoly.edu) (Directory)       March 20, 2000