World Food Policy Volume/Issue 2-2/3-1 Fall 2015/Spring 2016 | Page 121

World Food Policy - Volume 2 Issue 2/Volume 3 Issue 1, Fall 2015/Spring 2016

The World Food Economy:
A 40 Year Perspective on the Past, and a Look Forward
C. Peter TimmerA
What has changed in the world food economy in the 40 years since 1975? The
basic answer to that question is that ending hunger has turned out to be a
very difficult task. Henry Kissinger stated in 1976, at the first World Food
Conference, that “within a decade, no child will go to bed hungry.” There
would be no hunger within a decade. We failed miserably in that promise
and the question then is why? This paper attempts to answer that question.
There are two basic questions: (1) What has changed, and what has remained
the same? (2) Why is ending hunger so hard? What has changed, obviously, is
an information and communications technological revolution that has radically
reduced the transactions costs of doing business. Even poor households can be
informed instantly about market prices. What has remained the same is that
resource scarcity continues as the dominant theme organizing market activities.
Making markets work for the poor is the only path out of hunger and poverty.
Keywords: Food security, markets, ICT revolution, world food economy,
ending hunger

Introduction

Food Research Institute, which had been
founded in 1921. Merrill Bennett first
1
hat is the special significance taught the course, starting in the 1950s.
of a 40 year perspective, from After Bennett’s retirement in 1960, Bruce
the vantage point of 2015? The Johnston took over the course and gave
answer is mostly personal. In 1975, I first it more of an Asian and African focus.
taught a course at Stanford University on But Bruce was on sabbatical in Kenya in
the world food economy. It was a course 1975 and I was asked if I would step in as
that had a long history at the Stanford a young faculty and teach a course on the
world food economy.

W
A

This is a lightly edited version of the Keynote Speech I delivered at the World Food Policy Conference, December 17–18, 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Conference was sponsored by the Thai
Royal Society. I am the Cabot Professor of Development Studies, emeritus, Harvard University, and
Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC. Fuller details are available in
my book, Food Security and Scarcity: Why Ending Hunger Is So Hard (Philadelphia, PA: University of
Pennsylvania Press) 2015.
1
Bennett’s well-known book, The World Food Economy (New York: Harper and Row), was published
in 1954 and was an outgrowth of teaching the course.
doi: 10.18278/wfp.2.2.3.1.8
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