Food Security
Dr. Alex Winter-Nelson, Professor of Agriculture and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, discusses the source of the problem of world hunger (poverty), if extreme poverty can be reduced or eliminated and how and what effect globalization has had.
For more Center for Global Studies resources on this topic, see the Sustainable Development Research Cluster.
Videos:
Part 1 covers fears of a global famine, trends in food production and cost over the past century and two of the reasons for a recent spike in food prices and lower food stocks: bio-fuels and rising income. Additionally, Winter-Nelson cites the source of the hunger problem.
Part 2 covers the question of whether extreme poverty can be reduced or eliminated and the three things that are needed in order for it to happen. In addition, part 2 covers the primary reason people are going hungry and why people in extreme poverty might be worse off than before.
Part 3 covers the effects of globalization on development using the example of Wal-Mart to illustrate the effect that globalized grocery stores have on African farmers.
For additional resources, see the following readings:
Books
- Loeb, Kurt.White Man's Burden. Toronto: Lugus Productions, 1992.
- Liverpool, Lenis Saweda. Using Asset Poverty Measures to Understand Poverty Dynamics, Poverty Traps and Farmer Behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Focus on Rural Ethiopia. PhD University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009.
- Smith, Stephen C. Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to what Works. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
- Sachs, Jeffrey. The End of Poverty : Economic Possibilities for our Time. New York: Penguin Press, 2005.
Journal Articles
- Lim, Sung Soo, Alex Winter-Nelson, and Mary Arends-Kuenning. "Household Bargaining Power and Agricultural Supply Response: Evidence from Ethiopian Coffee Growers." World Development 35.7 (2007): 1204-20.
- Winter-Nelson, Alex. "International Food Safety Regulations in the United States and the European Union-Balancing Consumer Confidence and Trade: Discussion." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 91.5 (2009): 1491-1492.
