And things may have changed in the decades since land reform, but for my parents’ generation the thought of being a landless peasant (or its contemporary incarnation, the jealous bitter renter) filled one with dread and horror.

Indeed O.C. real estate “advisor” Gary Watts exploited this fear in his notorious “inverted year” report, exhorting his readers to buy now now now now now lest their descendants end up in perpetual serfdom. I think he specifically cited India.