Abstract. This paper uses an autobiographical mode in narrating the evolution and role of institutions in the development and the subsequent decline of a village economy in Bihar, India. It shows how cooperation helps and later envy, discordance and destructive attitudes overpower the constructive attitudes to life, how such attitudes enter into the cultural fabric of the people and how such changes make the village fall on its knees. The paper highlights the role of social capital in economic development.Keywords. Autobiographical, Village economy, Envy-barrier to development, Cultural economics, Destructive leadeship.JEL. B40, P36, P37, P49, Z13
