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Famines and economics

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Author Info
Ravallion, Martin

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Abstract

The author observes that famine, defined as widespread hunger or starvation, has occurred in most parts of the world in the twentieth century. Famines are more avoidable now than ever before. Famines defy simple explanations and geographic boundaries. They have occurred under both socialist and capitalist economic systems, with and without wars, or unusual political or social instability. Economic analysis can help explain famines. Under certain conditions, the threat of mass starvation can emerge from seemingly small economic shocks, or from a steady decline in average living standards. Similar shocks in similar settings can have very different consequences. Market and nonmarket institutions can fail under unusual stresses, making poor people highly vulnerable. Famine can be viewed as a tragic magnification of normal market and governmental failure. The factors that transform a shock into mass starvation seem to be intrinsic features of normal economies rather than peculiar features of highly distorted or badly managedeconomies. Normally hidden from view, they can surface in a number of ways. Certain elements increase a region's vulnerability to famine: poverty; weak social and physical infrastructure; weak and unprepared government; and a relatively closed political regime. Arguably the same factors constrain longer term economic development.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 1693.

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Date of creation: 31 Dec 1996
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1693

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Related research
Keywords: Public Health Promotion; Environmental Economics&Policies; Poverty Reduction Strategies; Nutrition; Poverty Reduction Strategies; Environmental Economics&Policies; Hazard Risk Management; Food&Beverage Industry; Nutrition;

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  1. Paul Mosley & Robert Holzmann & Steen Jorgensen, 1999. "Social protection as social risk management: conceptual underpinnings for the social protection sector strategy paper," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(7), pages 1005-1027.
  2. Dessus, Sebastien, 2008. "The short and longer term potential welfare impact of global commodity inflation in Tanzania," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4760, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  3. Tim Dyson & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2001. "Famine Demography - An Introduction," Working Papers 200125, School Of Economics, University College Dublin. [Downloadable!]
  4. Jalan, Jyotsna & Ravallion, Martin, 2002. "Household Income Dynamics in Rural China," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Michael Dutschke, 2007. "CDM Forestry and the Ultimate Objective of the Climate Convention," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 275-302, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Robert Holzmann & Steen Jørgensen, 2001. "Social Risk Management: A New Conceptual Framework for Social Protection, and Beyond," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 529-556, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney, 2005. "Consumption Smoothing and the Welfare Consequences of Social Insurance in Developing Economies," NBER Working Papers 11709, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Rasmus Heltberg, 2009. "Malnutrition, poverty, and economic growth," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S1), pages S77-S88. [Downloadable!]
  9. Sophie Mitra & Jean-Marc Boussard, 2008. "A Nonlinear Cobweb Model of Agricultural Commodity Price Fluctuations," Fordham Economics Discussion Paper Series dp2008-11, Fordham University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Meng, Xin & Qian, Nancy, 2006. "The Long Run Health and Economic Consequences of Famine on Survivors: Evidence from China's Great Famine," CEPR Discussion Papers 5989, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2004. "Introduction to Special Issue of Food and Foodways," Working Papers 200409, School Of Economics, University College Dublin. [Downloadable!]
  12. Vanhaute, Eric, 2009. "From famine to food crisis. What history can teach us about local and global subsistence crises," MPRA Paper 17630, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  13. Philippe Hugon, 2005. "Droit, droits et économie du développement. Illustrations à propos de l'alimentation," Mondes en développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 129(1), pages 13-40. [Downloadable!]
  14. Hans Hoogeveen, 2000. "For Better and for Worse - How Unpaid Bride Wealth provides Security," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 00-079/2, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  15. An, Mark Yuying & Li, Wei & Yang, Dennis Tao, 2001. "China's Great Leap: Forward or Backward? Anatomy of a Central Planning Disaster," CEPR Discussion Papers 2824, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Xin Meng & Nancy Qian, 2009. "The Long Term Consequences of Famine on Survivors: Evidence from a Unique Natural Experiment using China's Great Famine," NBER Working Papers 14917, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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