Food Insecurity as Market Failure: A Contribution from Economics

The complexity of food security requires an interdisciplinary approach in its study. For policy development and analysis, an essential element of this interdisciplinary approach is economics. At the center of the rationale provided by economics for government intervention is the idea of market failure. The paper argues that the economic theory of market failure, and in particular the concepts of externalities and public goods, can be effectively used for analyzing and criticizing the present food system. It also argues that through a better understanding of these economic concepts, governments can devise market-based policies for improving food security.