Caste Ranking and Community Structure in Five Regions of India and Pakistan

hoped that this does not set a precedent for future savings studies, although it is intended as a pilot study. Similarly, the use of the Assessment Register of the Delhi Corporation as a basis of the sample is bound to have introduced a bias. Among the large amount of specific facts contained in this survey just one may be mentioned. It seems that consumers in Delhi prefer a car to a refrigerator. Studies of savings are notoriously difficult, both conceptually and statistically. Even in the United States where we are blessed (or at times inundated) with data this remains a difficult area. We need to mention such conceptual problems as the definition of the appropriate savings unit, i.e., spending unit, or household unit, etc., and the definition of savings, e.g., should consumer purchases of durables be included? This study makes a distinct contribution to our knowledge about savings habits in India by adding to the information provided in such earlier studies as the Sample Surveys, the Rural Credit Surveys, the work of P.R. Brahmananda, and the Reserve Bank studies of V. V. Bhatt. It is only to be hoped that this pilot survey will be followed by others equally well done for other urban areas as well as rural areas, although admittedly that is likely to prove more difficult.