An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies by Tyler Cowen

Author:Tyler Cowen [Cowen, Tyler]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781101561669
Publisher: Dutton
Published: 2012-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

The Ticciatis don’t understand economics, and they don’t understand that a lack of technical progress will doom some people to hunger or starvation. It’s true that giving poor people more money would help them buy food—but, whether we like it or not, the rest of the world isn’t that charitable and won’t be anytime soon. In the meantime, lower food prices help poor people get more to eat. GMOs increase the supply of food, thereby lowering food prices and feeding the poor, just as the Green Revolution did. It’s a sad kind of economic illiteracy—all too common in GMO critiques—that does not grasp this simple mechanism.

The biggest problem with GMOs is simply that they may underperform their initial promise. It’s not always easy to come up with a new technological breakthrough, and so the degree of future importance for GMO growth remains an open question, especially since progress in agricultural productivity has been slowing down. Let’s hope at least that we have a chance to find out whether further investments in GMOs can save millions of lives.

The world would need another agricultural revolution if we were only facing Africa’s plight. But the problem is far more general. There will be nine or so billion of us soon and we need new ways to feed people. We need to look forward, not backward, and the relevant alternatives of starvation, strife, and violence are indeed part of our past. Let’s do better. In order not to thwart a new Green Revolution, we need to remember that technology and business are a big part of what makes the world gentle and fun.

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