Publication

This paper describes that in the rice-based economies of Asia the public provision of food security quickly slips from its essential role as an economic stimulus into a political response to the pressures of rapid structural transformation, thereby becoming a drag on economic efficiency. The author illustrates that the long-run relationship between food security and economic growth thus tends to switch from positive to negative over the course of development. The paper claims that because of inevitable inertia in the design and implementation of public policy, this switch presents a serious challenge to the design of an appropriate food policy.