Native populations never had such concepts. That many nations are artificial creations incapable of food self-sufficiency undercuts the self-sufficiency argument. Nations around the world may need, at the very least, to organization into larger, more diverse blocs the way Europe has in order to have any hope of attaining food self-sufficiency.
Externalities
Inefficient and illogical colonial-era boundaries are just one externality that is impacting the ability of the world to feed itself. Trade regulations are another. No matter the justification, trade barriers and tariffs reduce the efficiency of the global food trade. When nations protect certain industries with these barriers, they fail to take advantage of comparative advantages. Worse, such regulations stifle innovation. When regulations are removed, innovation allows industries to find a new equilibrium. An example of this can be found with Canadian wine production. Prior to the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Act, the Canadian wine industry was subsidized heavily. When the free trade act removed those subsidies and barriers, the market became flooded with American wine, which because of competitive advantages was cheaper and better. This spurred a bout of innovation at Canadian vineyards, resulting in a strong domestic industry based on premium product rather than the weak domestic industry that existed previously without innovation for decades and needed government assistance merely to exist. By removing government-mandated self-sufficiency in wine, the Canadian government ultimately ensured the long-term survival of what under protectionism was an industry on life support.
Innovation is one of the most important externalities in the global food market. In the United States, agricultural yields have been improved through the development of genetically modified foods -- foods that are disease resistant, that are hardier or that grow larger than otherwise would. genetically modified foods, however, are subject to considerable controversy (Whitman, 2000). They have been banned in Europe, for example. Europe may feel sufficiently comfortable with its agricultural base to enact such a ban, but the net effect of the ban is to create a barrier to entry, reducing the efficiency of global food markets. If such bans are spread to other parts of the world, the result could be an exacerbation of existing food supply crises. Improved yields are essential to feeding the planet's growing population, especially given the fact that the world is running out of arable land, is facing water supply constraints and that the average caloric intake per capita is increasing as the result of widespread economic progress.
These externalities cause harm to global food markets, but this is accepted because the underlying reasons for them - the banning of genetically modified foods for example -- are non-economic. This leaves open the question of how best to ensure food security for the world. At present, there are essentially two types of arguments. The purely economic argument is for food markets free from intervention and externalities. The other set of arguments may vary in the details, but stem from the underlying philosophy that the ideal path is one in which food markets are managed, with a full slate of measures in mind. Under these philosophies, the outcomes sought in our global food market system are not simply with respect to maximizing the intersection between calories, acres and dollars. Non-financial measures are incorporated under the theory that just because something cannot be easily quantified does not mean that it has no value.
Another externality that contributes to the food supply/demand problem is the nation state. Ever since modern home sapiens came into existence, humans have followed the food. Our global trade system is based on stationary humans and moving food, contrary to the system we have followed for tens of thousands of years. Modern borders create mini-crises, localized famines that are difficult to resolve. The people cannot easily move to more agriculturally productive areas, yet trade barriers, corruption, transportation issues and other problems of the modern nation-state result in a failure to bring food from global markets to the people. This is a failure of both the supply and demand sides. If people are allowed to move more freely to the areas of surplus food production, these two sides come together. While massive migration is typically viewed by policy makers as a problem -- the coming of a great crisis (Eide & Kracht, 2009) -- it is in fact the historically proven solution to food supply problems. For...
134). In addition, Russian authorities have also joined with the international community to protect the lake. In this regard, Hudgins adds that, "Increased awareness of such threats to the unique ecology of Lake Baikal has prompted a number of international organizations -- including the Sierra Club and Baikal Watch in the United States -- to join the Russians in their efforts to protect this natural wonder of the world"
Economists Explain the theory of Social Darwinism. What elements of truth are in the theory? How do you refute it? The theory of Social Darwinism is simply asserts that only the fittest survive in the wild or in society as it exists today. Thus, this theory was based heavily on the ideas of Charles Darwin and his views on plants and animals in nature. Thus, this theory specified that the weak
food production and distribution in the world today? Despite Malthusian predictions to the contrary, there is generally enough food currently available to adequately feed the world's six billion people. In fact, Searchinger (2011) recently observed that, "Economists have made such a fuss about how complicated the food crisis is that they have created the impression that it has no ready solution. . . . This view is wrong" (p. 14).
Macroeconomics For most of the time since the subject of economics was first studied, the idea of resource constraints has been irrelevant. The world was simply not viewed as a finite place. The concept of resource constraints was limited, more or less, to the consideration of constraints on an individual economy. Adam Smith recognized that all economies would face resource constraints of one type or another. As Snowdon (2003) points out,
Poverty has always been the bane of society. In modern-day times, with the easy spread of information, poverty is even more magnified. People in wealthy areas and situations are aware of exactly how poor people are wretched areas, and, more critically, people in wretched areas are entirely aware how wealthy people in more fortunate areas. Civilizations have always had vast discrepancies of wealth -- as is indicated by every GINI study
Food Supply The book Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity makes a clear argument against the existence of "a world hunger crisis." Lappe and Collins support their main thesis that rather than a "global food shortage," we are facing an unequal distribution system. The book discusses the development of our current food production and distribution systems. It supports the idea that there is in reality enough food production to
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now