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> The world has a long history of famines that show we quite often bump up against Malthusian limits. Famine isn't caused by a lack of resources - it's a polit

> The world has a long history of famines that show we quite often bump up against Malthusian limits. Famine isn't caused by a lack of resources - it's a political problem. 87 million people died of famine in the 20th century, but none of those were in democracies. Source (though I haven't checked the numbers myself): http://markhumphrys.com/end.war.html http://markhumphrys.com/end.war.html

Steko 15y ago
To say it's a political problem is to say that you can solve all famine just by just changing over to democracy which simply isn't the case (although it would help!). That's an error in causation. What's more likely is you're seeing the fact that democracy helps but what helps more is the same societal characteristics that are salient for developing a strong democracy (e.g. a strong, educated middle class) also tend to insulate those societies from shocks to the food supply. Certainly type of government is important but to say famine isn't also caused by lack of resources is silly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_famines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_famines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition_in_India "Deaths from malnutrition on a large scale have continued across India into modern times. In Maharashtra alone, for example, there were around 45,000 childhood deaths due to mild or severe malnutrition in 2009, according to the Times of India.[145] Another Times of India report in 2010 has stated that 50% of childhood deaths in India are attributable to malnutrition.[146] Around 7.5 million people per year die of malnutrition in modern India, the largest death rate caused by malnutrition for any country."
- CWuestefeld 15y ago
  What's more likely is you're seeing the fact that democracy helps but what helps more is the same societal characteristics that are salient for developing a strong democracy Yes. More important than democracy itself is a strong system of property rights and a functional market (these are things that tend to be present in democracies, hence the confusion). The problem in Africa is frequently that property rights are not respected, so warlords and gangsters are able to confiscate the food and sell it themselves, or dole it out to their minions.

Steko 15y ago

To say it's a political problem is to say that you can solve all famine just by just changing over to democracy which simply isn't the case (although it would help!). That's an error in causation. What's more likely is you're seeing the fact that democracy helps but what helps more is the same societal characteristics that are salient for developing a strong democracy (e.g. a strong, educated middle class) also tend to insulate those societies from shocks to the food supply. Certainly type of government is important but to say famine isn't also caused by lack of resources is silly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_famines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_famines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition_in_India "Deaths from malnutrition on a large scale have continued across India into modern times. In Maharashtra alone, for example, there were around 45,000 childhood deaths due to mild or severe malnutrition in 2009, according to the Times of India.[145] Another Times of India report in 2010 has stated that 50% of childhood deaths in India are attributable to malnutrition.[146] Around 7.5 million people per year die of malnutrition in modern India, the largest death rate caused by malnutrition for any country."

CWuestefeld 15y ago
What's more likely is you're seeing the fact that democracy helps but what helps more is the same societal characteristics that are salient for developing a strong democracy Yes. More important than democracy itself is a strong system of property rights and a functional market (these are things that tend to be present in democracies, hence the confusion). The problem in Africa is frequently that property rights are not respected, so warlords and gangsters are able to confiscate the food and sell it themselves, or dole it out to their minions.