This work examines the nature of agrarian contracts. Agricultural land tenancy and farm labor are basic institutions binding the life and work of billions of people in the Third World. Issues of efficiency and equity associated with a particular form of contract--such as sharecropping--are not merely of academic interest, but have critical bearing on land tenure reform as well as innovations in credit and marketing institutions in agrarian economies. There have been major controversies surrounding the role of land tenure in agricultural and rural development, with much confusion arising from only partial and separate treatments of land and labor contracts. Through a comprehensive critical survey of existing literature, Hayami and Otsuka present a general theory of agrarian contracts by integrating land and labor contracts. Insights from the scrutiny of agrarian contracts are of relevance to industrial organization and management in developed economies as well as to the study of these fields.