We investigate whether income inequality affects subsequent growth in a cross-country sample for 1965-90, using the models of Barro (1997), Bleaney and Nishiyama (2002) and Sachs and Warner (1997), with negative results. We then investigate the evolution of income inequality over the same period and its correlation with growth. The dominating feature is inequality convergence across countries. This convergence has been significantly faster amongst developed countries. Growth does not appear to influence the evolution of inequality over time. Outline

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/81822/1/02-28.pdf

Economic growth and income inequality

This report highlights the differential impacts that the world food crisis of 2006-2008 had on different countries, with the poorest being most affected.
This year’s report focuses on the costs of food price volatility, as well as the dangers and opportunities presented by high food prices. Climate change and an increased frequency of weather shocks, increased linkages between energy and agricultural markets due to growing demand for biofuels, and increased financialization of food and agricultural commodities all suggest that price volatility is here to stay. The report describes the effects of price volatility on food security and presents policy options to reduce volatility in a cost-effective manner and to manage it when it cannot be avoided.

The state of food insecurity in the world 2011: how does international price volatility affect domestic economies and food security?

Decades ago, discussion of an impending global pandemic of obesity was thought of as heresy. But in the 1970s, diets began to shift towards increased reliance upon processed foods, increased away-from-home food intake, and increased use of edible oils and sugar-sweetened beverages. Reductions in physical activity and increases in sedentary behavior began to be seen as well. The negative effects of these changes began to be recognized in the early 1990s, primarily in low- and middle-income populations, but they did not become clearly acknowledged until diabetes, hypertension, and obesity began to dominate the globe. Now, rapid increases in the rates of obesity and overweight are widely documented, from urban and rural areas in the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to populations in countries with higher income levels. Concurrent rapid shifts in diet and activity are well documented as well. An array of large-scale programmatic and policy measures are being explored in a few countries; however, few countries are engaged in serious efforts to prevent the serious dietary challenges being faced.

/pdf/global-nutrition-transition-and-the-pandemic-of-obesity-in-5cnfnv71ot.pdf

Global nutrition transition and the pandemic of obesity in developing countries

The East Asian miracle: Economic growth and public policy: By the World Bank. (New York: Oxford University Press for the World Bank, 1993. 389 pp. $19.95, paper.)

A picture of food consumption (availability) trends and projections to 2050, both globally and for different regions of the world, along with the drivers largely responsible for these observed consumption trends are the subject of this review. Throughout the world, major shifts in dietary patterns are occurring, even in the consumption of basic staples towards more diversified diets. Accompanying these changes in food consumption at a global and regional level have been considerable health consequences. Populations in those countries undergoing rapid transition are experiencing nutritional transition. The diverse nature of this transition may be the result of differences in socio-demographic factors and other consumer characteristics. Among other factors including urbanization and food industry marketing, the policies of trade liberalization over the past two decades have implications for health by virtue of being a factor in facilitating the ‘nutrition transition’ that is associated with rising rates of obesity and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Future food policies must consider both agricultural and health sectors, thereby enabling the development of coherent and sustainable policies that will ultimately benefit agriculture, human health and the environment.

/pdf/food-consumption-trends-and-drivers-39mm1l438p.pdf

Food consumption trends and drivers

https://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Event/DEC/DECAR-food-conference-sep-2014/DECAR-Food-Conference-Sep18-19-Timmer-2010-Timmer-reflections-on-food-crises-in-Food-Policy.pdf

Reflections on food crises past

Farmers and Markets: The Political Economy of New Paradigms

A revolution in food systems—food supply chains upstream from farms, to the food industry in the midstream segments of processing and wholesale and in the downstream segment of retail, then on to consumers—has been under way in the United States for more than a century and in developing countries for more than three decades. The transformation includes extensive consolidation, very rapid institutional and organizational change, and progressive modernization of the procurement system. In this article we examine the economics of these system-wide changes. We argue that the steps of conceptualizing and empirically researching this transformation—its patterns and trends, determinants, and impacts on farms and processing small and micro enterprises—are still in their infancy because of (a) remaining limitations on data suitable for formal modeling and hypothesis testing and (b) the sheer complexity of food system– related decisions that need to be modeled and understood. With the rapid accumulation of high-quality data now under way, conceptual and theoretical progress is also likely to be rapid.

The Economics of the Food System Revolution

A survey of households in rural Java is used to assess the nutritional impact of Indonesia's drought and financial crisis of 1997/1998. A time-age-cohort decomposition reveals significant nutritional impacts. However, child weight-for-age (WAZ) remained constant throughout the crisis, despite rapid increases in food prices and the consequent household consumption shock. The evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that within households, mothers buffered children's caloric intake, resulting in increased maternal wasting. However, reductions in the consumption of high-quality foods further resulted in increased prevalence of anemia for both mothers and children. The combined effects were particularly severe for cohorts conceived and weaned during the crisis.

Macro shocks and micro outcomes: child nutrition during Indonesia's crisis.

This article strategically surveys the past century’s literature on agricultural development. We organize the discussion around three “grand themes” that reveal the richness of agricultural development as an intellectual endeavor. First, we explore the role of agriculture in the broader development process from a macroeconomic and political economy perspective. We then examine the role of technological and institutional change in successful agricultural development. Finally, the focus turns to a microeconomic perspective on agricultural household decision making and the problems of imperfect and missing markets, asymmetric information, and transactions costs that lead to widespread apparent inefficiency and disequilibrium.

http://barrett.dyson.cornell.edu/Papers/AJAE%20centennial%20January%202010%20Truly%20Final.pdf

C. Peter Timmer

Papers

Reflections on food crises past

Farmers and Markets: The Political Economy of New Paradigms

The Economics of the Food System Revolution

Macro shocks and micro outcomes: child nutrition during Indonesia's crisis.

A Century-Long Perspective on Agricultural Development