> A potential European famine won't happen because the lacking quantities of food will be imported, to the detriment of all with less purchasing power
I can't believe that in today's connected world this would happen to the determent of other nations. Sure 150 years ago in Ireland type scenario but these days if a local populace was starving the government would shut borders on food. No democratic government would stay in power otherwise and I doubt a dictatorship could either. It's a different world.
That said purchasing power would be used by wealthy nations to buy any excess. But also I feel like in the scenario from the book there would be very limited excess so it's a stretch to claim there would be no European famine as you can't expect there to be excess food from any nation. Grass overs a hell of a lot of food production directly and also indirectly in things like meat production.
What? This is basic supply and demand. The supply goes down, the demand stays the same (in fact, demand grows because of panic), so prices rise. Rich countries continue to eat, poor countries starve.
What does democracy in, say, the Philippines have to do with the fact that an exporter (of which there are now less of) can sell to England for $0.20/pound or sell to the Philippines for $0.10/pound?
Consider the 2008 rice crisis which wasn't caused by a shortage of rice (1). You also see this when staple foods suddenly become trendy (2)
I can't believe that in today's connected world this would happen to the determent of other nations. Sure 150 years ago in Ireland type scenario but these days if a local populace was starving the government would shut borders on food. No democratic government would stay in power otherwise and I doubt a dictatorship could either. It's a different world.
That said purchasing power would be used by wealthy nations to buy any excess. But also I feel like in the scenario from the book there would be very limited excess so it's a stretch to claim there would be no European famine as you can't expect there to be excess food from any nation. Grass overs a hell of a lot of food production directly and also indirectly in things like meat production.