Like the preceding monograph in this series, the present study is based on field data and basic statistical materials obtained in the course of the year 1957, spent as a field representative for the American aid mission in Luang Prabang in northern Laos, and in 1959 during a second visit as a consultant to the RAND Corporation. in addition to field work, several years of intermittent research have been devoted to going through available literature ands consulting individuals who have worked in Laos.

Essentially, this is an attempt to integrate what is known about northern and central Laos from a socioeconomic point of view.