WORLD GRAINS PRODUCTION BALANCE SHEET 7: Leading to a policy of Starve Your Neighbor?

Economics came to be called the dismal science because of Thomas Malthus who observed that population growth was several times faster than food production and would lead to starvation and wars.

Recently, Thailand and Vietnam –rice producing countries from which the Philippines (one of the countries in Southeast Asia with the highest population growth rate) imports most of its rice to augment deficits in its rice stocks– declared a cutback in its exports of rice to keep food at home.

Is Malthus being proven right?

Balance Sheet graphics by Ren Garcia / images from Microsoft Clipart