I’ve seen large sums of money put in terms of how many times it could solve the world hunger crisis. For example, the defense budget is blank amount which could solve world hunger 5 times over. How do they actually come up with this price? Is there really a permanent way to solve world hunger?
In: Economics
World hunger is not a problem of food production or even food distribution. It is a problem of politics.
When you hear about a famine or other food shortage in the modern era, it is almost guaranteed that it is the direct result of political action taken against those starving.
In essence, starvation is a *strategy* for eliminating your political opposition.
That’s why all those charitable attempts to feed people tend to fall flat. The local government requires bribes to even put on a show of getting food to people – and then proceeds to let just enough trickle through to keep the bribes coming while not letting enough through to actually keep people from starving.
Indeed, many ‘feed the poor’ programs in the Third World actually make the problem worse. The starving people who were merely being killed to serve political ends become a revenue stream for the corrupt government trying to kill them, solidifying the power of that government. As strange it might sound, when you see large numbers of people starving in a Third World autocracy, you shouldn’t send them food. You should send them guns.
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