The World Food Economy : A 40 Year Perspective on the Past , and a Look Forward
four themes , which is really hard . It is conceptually difficult , it is operationally difficult , and we all understand that it is politically difficult . Here , I won ’ t try to speak on the realities of policymaking in Thailand . But I can tell you that in Indonesia we have a very difficult time getting the parliament to deal with anything other than the extremely short run . In the United States we don ’ t take policy seriously any longer at all . The disconnect from what I would call “ reality ” in the US political scene is just astonishing . So , this is going to be hard because it ’ s going to require we get policy right . It ’ s going to require that we do the analysis and inform policy choices .
The rich countries are lucky because they have enough resources that they can do this — keep people from starving — even if things are not completely right . There is plenty of slack in the economy so that the poor need not starve — that is just a programmatic issue and it is not a policy or a development issue . Rich countries have largely managed this integration , and ended widespread hunger , because they have abundant resources for the tasks . But for poor countries , they have had to manage hunger while they were still poor . Only a few poor countries have managed to end hunger while they were relatively poor , and most of them are here in Southeast Asia and China . The lessons from those success stories in this region drive the analysis of the book .
Why is ending hunger so hard ?
Ending hunger is hard because it is a lengthy process that requires sustained policy attention and public resources , and also at the same time private markets are the main arena for nearly all the decisions that matter : public policy , private markets . The food system is at the core of this process in both the long run and short run . In the long run , the food system is a key element of the structural transformation , which historically has been the only sustainable pathway out of poverty . In the short run , the food system is where many of the poor make their living and also face the risks of volatile food prices .
Structural transformation has been the only sustainable pathway out of poverty — you have to get people from very tiny farms with low productivity jobs to better jobs — often in rural areas but sometimes in the urban economy . The structural transformation changes the relationship of the labor force in the economy between agriculture and the rest , especially in urban areas . The structural transformation has been the only successful pathway out of poverty and where it has not worked we have not been able to end poverty . Being a small farmer is a very risky undertaking in an environment of endemic poverty .
Main Message : The “ Wicked Problem ”
Australians coined the term “ wicked problem ” to describe climate change , because it is so complicated that no single individual , no single discipline , no single school , and no single think tank can figure it out . It ’ s just much too complicated — that ’ s what a
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