The macro dimensions of food security: economic growth, equitable distribution, and food price stability
Introduction
Famine and food security are at opposite ends of a spectrum. It is only in modern times that entire societies, as opposed to privileged members of those societies, have been able to escape from chronic hunger and the constant threat of famine (Fogel, 1991). Many countries in the developing world, especially in Africa and South Asia, have not managed this escape. In these countries, understanding the factors that cause widespread hunger and vulnerability to famines, and the mechanisms available to alleviate their impact, remain important intellectual challenges (Sen, 1981; Ravallion, 1987, Ravallion, 1998; Dreze and Sen, 1989).
There is a different way to pose the question, however. Rather than asking how to cope with hunger and famine, the question might be how to escape from their threat altogether. As Fogel has emphasized, this is a modern question that is only partly answered by the institutional and technological innovations that are at the heart of modern economic growth (Kuznets, 1966). Without these innovations, the modern escape from hunger to food security would not have been possible. But the record of economic growth for the Third World since the 1950s shows that even in countries with relatively low levels of per capita income, government interventions to enhance food security can lift the threat of hunger and famine. The countries most successful at this task are in East and Southeast Asia, although the experience in South Asia has been instructive as well.
Section snippets
Food security and the escape from hunger
That rich countries have little to fear from hunger is a simple consequence of Engel's law; consumers have a substantial buffer of non-food expenditures to rely on, even if food prices rise sharply. In a market economy, the rich do not starve. Wars, riots, hurricanes, and floods, for example, can disrupt the smooth functioning of markets, and all in their wake can perish. But rich societies usually have the means to prevent or alleviate such catastrophes, social or natural. Food security in
Conceptualizing the strategic approach
Achieving food security through a “macro” strategic approach involves active development of the agricultural and rural economy to link and stimulate rapid economic growth, poverty alleviation, and stability. In turn, each of these three elements is a primary input into food security at both the macro and micro levels.
The mechanisms behind this strategic approach to food security are not well understood analytically or quantified empirically. The basic arguments, however, are straightforward.
Modeling the strategic approach
This strategic approach to food security can be understood more clearly if it is developed into a simple model of economic development. A framework borrowed from Reutlinger and Selowsky (1976) is used here to organize the discussion (see Fig. 1). A calorie–income relationship, illustrated in Panel A, is used to identify a “poverty line” and a “famine line” (World Bank, 1986, Annex A). The standard Engel relationship in panel A portrays a representative consumer or household whose income (Y)
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