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The economics of food

Dasgupta, Partha (1997) The economics of food. DEDPS (4). Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, London, UK.

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Abstract

In this article I argue that, in contrast to what is implicitly assumed in many popular writings on food security in the future, the interface that connects the problems of population growth, poverty, environmental degradation, food insecurity, and civic disconnection should ideally be studied with reference to a myriad of communitarian , household, and individual decisions; or, in other words, that if we are to reach a global, futuristic vision of the human delimma, we need to adopt a local, contemporary lens. I argue that the all-or-nothing position often adopted in current writings is almost certainly misleading; both theory and evidence suggest that, just as today, large bodies of the world's population in 2020 (the point by which world population will have passed 8 billion) will go hungry, even as large numbers continue to enjoy affluence; that women, children, and the old will continue to be the most vulnerable of people; that the stress on ecosystems will be even grater than it is today, and that this may well create further stresses on civic connection. I will also argue that a prime target for national and international economic policy reforms should be the institutions (in particular, the structure of poverty rights) within which individuals, households, firms, and communities go about their business.

Item Type: Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk
Additional Information: © 1997 Partha Dasgupta
Divisions: STICERD
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Date Deposited: 08 Jul 2008 13:48
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2024 19:39
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/6701

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