Food Security and Economic Growth
More than 795 million people are still chronically undernourished; over one in four children are affected by stunting; and nine percent of children are affected by wasting. This occurs in spite of the fact that there is an excess of food in the world. This suggests that in order to understand why people go hungry—and perhaps more importantly, what can be done to most effectively intervene—that we must understand the food in a systemic way, not simply focusing on production alone.
In this course, we
will explore the concept of food security in all of its dimensions including
production, storage, distribution, access and stability. We will place special
emphasis on challenges to global food security, constraints on the modern
“conventional” farming system, and sustainable strategies to increase global
food production. We will also look at the Macroeconomic and Microeconomic
policies related to food security and its relationship to economic growth and
inequality.
The course is structured in seven topics: Hunger and Food Security, Core Macroeconomic Concepts, Core Microeconomic Concepts, Price Volatility, Key Policies Part I and II, and the New Green Revolution. Every topic will build up on the previous one, delving into constructive argument and taking into account the available relevant bibliography.