Thursday, July 9, 2009
- if rich countries eat less, poor countries could eat more
You are making an unsupported assumption.. that reduced food demand in rich countries will increase food supply in poor ones. In fact, historical evidence demonstrates the opposite. The real trend is that as the world population (and world food demand) increases, there is actually an increase in PER CAPITA food consumption. This is surprising only if you think that food supply is a limited resource, which it is not. First, at some point in history, humans culturally evolved (through farming) the ability to produce more than enough food for individuals..allowing labor differentiation etc. This led to civilization.. and ensuing technological revolutions, which further increased per capita food production. The best way to decrease malnourishment in poor countries is NOT to re-slice the pizza, but to make a bigger one. Greater food demand in rich countries can spur technological change in food production, and therefore counterintuitively the more Jimmy eats in America, the more Obobu might one day eat in Africa.
