World Poverty and Food Insecurity
30 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2014 Last revised: 21 Mar 2015
Date Written: February 1, 2015
The article draws upon the insights of Yale philosopher Thomas Pogge to suggest a way that we might think about the structural inequities in the global economic order that produce food insecurity. The article argues that chronic undernourishment is not a function of food scarcity, bad weather, or simply bad luck. Rather, it is a function of international political and economic arrangements that systematically benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor. The article concludes with several legal and policy reforms that the United States and the European Union can adopt to reduce the burdens that our societies place on the world's most vulnerable populations.
Keywords: food security, poverty, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, international trade law, biofuels, land grab, World Bank, bilateral investment treaties, agriculture, WTO Agreement on Agriculture
JEL Classification: F13, F18, F54, Q17, Q56, N50, O24, K32, K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation