This study is an attempt to explore the typical tenancy contracts in rural Assam tracing back to the history of evaluation in the pre-British era and to provide empirical answers to a number of theoretically established propositions that are subjected to much controversy The book lays out a broad theoretical discussion on the issues involved in the sharecropping efficiency and interlinked credit transactions. The empirical evidence and the subsequent economic reasoning suggest that the Marshallian and related disincentive effects of sharecropping are of limited importance in the study area and so this institution can not necessarily be interpreted as detrimental to the overall development of the rural economy of Assam. The study also highlights the informal credit arrangements in rural Assam with its possible inter linkages to land and labour markets and brings out the potential threat of land alienation that is emanating from the practice of informal credit transactions under the system of usufructuary mortgage of land. Finally, an attempt has been made to explain the incidence of tenancy in Assam within a theoretical framework by identifying the key variables determining the extent of tenancy. It has been argued that family resources, particularly the owned land, the number of agricultural workers and bullock endowment, and human resources, specifically the level of education of the farmers, influence the leasing decision in rural Assam.