The
Global Food Crisis and What Has Capitalism
to Do With It? |
| William
K. Tabb |
|
| The
paper explores the links between the current
food crisis, generated by galloping food
prices, and the inherent nature of capitalism.
It discusses the structural issues of an
industry built on profit maximization, considers
the unique aspects of agribusiness in a
global political economy, the role of the
power exercised by huge transnationals and
the states which support their interests.
The paper argues that a look at the causes
of this food crisis and the purported solutions
has much to tell us about what is wrong
with the hegemonic development model of
recent decades. |
|
|
| The
Accumulation Process in the Period of Globalization |
| Prabhat
Patnaik |
|
| This
paper, based on a lecture given in memory
of D. D. Kosambi, discusses the current
global crises in terms of rising inflation
and food shortages, and argues that this
situation reflects the inherent nature of
capitalism which engages in accumulation
through both expansion and encroachment.
This squeezes out peasant agriculture and
all petty producers, and ultimately leads
to a supply constraint on goods produced
by these groups. Under the current context
of capitalism, these forces are creating
a crisis for mankind. |
|
| |
|
|
| The
Global Food Crisis |
| Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
recent food shortages and rapidly rising
prices of food have adversely affected billions
of people, especially the poor in the developing
world. This is very much a man-made crisis,
resulting from the market-oriented and liberalising
policies adopted by choice or compulsion
in almost all countries, which have either
neglected agriculture or allowed shifts
in global prices to determine both cropping
patterns and the viability of farming, and
also generated greater possibilities of
speculative activity in food items. This
article discusses the features, causes of
the current crisis and indicates an alternative
policy framework for redressal. |
|
|
| The
'Old' and the 'New': Development Economics
and the Current Global Conjuncture |
| 5
new books for academics, campaigners and
policy makers |
|
| IDEAs
showcases five books edited by Jomo K.S.
along with Ben Fine and Erik. S. Reinert;
three published by Tulika Books, New Delhi
and Zed Books, London, that attempt to rediscover
and reinterpret the significance of ‘Development
Economics’ as well as two more published
by Oxford University Press, New Delhi, on
the process of globalization and its outcomes
in terms of increasing economic diversity.
This is part of IDEAs’ attempt to draw critical
attention to these overwhelmingly important
issues of yesterday, today and tomorrow. |
|
| |
|
|
| Courting
Risk : Policy Manoeuvres on FII Inflows |
| C.
P. Chandrasekhar |
|
| A
recent government report on FII inflows
into the Indian stock market reflects the
growing chasm between the view points of
the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank
on the matter. While the report advocates
the cause of the FIIs, the RBI, concerned
about the macroeconomic implications of
excessive capital inflows and outflows,
has virtually disowned much of it. In this
critique, the author looks at the various
arguments. |
|
|
| International
Imbalances in Balance of Payments |
| C.P.
Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Examining
the nature and sources of the international
imbalances in balance of payments performance
in a set of two articles, the authors argue
that the major reason for the apparent excess
of capital in developing countries which
is then being exported to the US and other
developed countries is the deflationary
policies adopted by these governments to
support of financial liberalisation and
export-led growth. |
|
| |
|
|
| Banking
FDI in Latin America: An Economic Coup |
| Sukanya
Bose |
|
| Since
the mid-1990s, foreign direct investment
into the banking industry in many emerging
market economies has been growing at an
unprecedented scale. The paper examines
the consequences of this phenomenon on banking
sector's efficiency, credit aggregates,
and stability in the context of the Latin
American economies. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Sub-Federal
Governance and Global Harmonisation of Policies |
| Murali
Kallummal & Smitha Francis |
|
| Providing
an overview of the trends towards global
harmonisation of economic policies, this
paper argues that the challenges faced by
developing countries in addressing their
local developmental concerns call for sub-federal
governance structures and strategic re-engineering
of federal finances. |
|
|
| Rising
Market Control of Transnational Agribusiness |
| Amit
Thorat |
|
| Agriculture
around the world is witnessing an unprecedented
change. The manner in which food was and
is still grown in many parts of the world
and made available to the people for consumption
is fast changing. |
|
| |
|
|
| FDI
Flows into Japan: Changing Trends and Patterns |
| Smitha
Francis |
|
| The
rising prominence of FDI inflows into Japan
- a traditional top global outward investor,
has to be seen against the backdrop of the
historically sweeping reforms in the country's
corporate and financial sector laws. This
portends ownership changes in several dominant
sectors of the economy as well as changes
in Japan's traditional bank-based corporate
financing practices. |
|
|
| The
Green Barrier to Free Trade |
C.P.
Chandrasekhar, Jayati Ghosh and
Parthapratim Pal |
|
| As
the March 31 deadline for completing the
"modalities" stage of the proposed
new round of negotiations on global agricultural
trade passed without any consensus, hopes
of an agreement within the timeframe set
by WTO are increasingly waning. This paper
examines the various factors and players
on the issue. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| MNC
Strategy and Performance: New Evidence
|
| IDEAs
Research Team |
|
| New
evidence from the US Bureau of Economic
Affairs indicates that, despite accelerated
globalisation and liberalisation, there
are no clear signs of a change in the production
and expansion strategies of US multinationals
during the 1990s. |
|
| |
|
|
| Water
Tensions : 'Merchandising Water', The Catalyst
|
| Mohan
G Francis |
|
| Water
tensions and water conflicts are increasing
with the rapid conversion of water from
a fundamental right and necessity for survival
to a product of profit in the market. The
potential for merchandising water is enormous,
and thereby the potential for water tensions
and water conflicts, with only 5 % of the
world's population currently getting its
water from water corporations. |
|
|
|