economics

Paul Collier explains the famine

Paul Collier explains the famine.

In the modern era, famines are usually caused by war or socialism.  This time around, it is a bit different.  Collier lists four causes – one is Chinese prosperity, two are environmentalism – the ban on genetically modified food, and the American biofuel program, and one is social engineering – state intervention to preserve small (and thus ineffectual) farms as a voting block.

As I remarked earlier, the twentieth century was a time of socialist famines.  Let us hope the twenty first century is not a time of greenie famines.

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