Making Famine History

By Cormac Ó Gráda. 2007

184 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper reviews recent contributions to the economics and economic history of famine. It provides a context for the history of famine in the twentieth century, which is unique. During the century, war and totalitarianism produced more famine deaths than did overpopulation and economic backwardness; yet by its end, economic growth and medical technology had almost eliminated the threat of major famines. Today's high-profile famines are "small" by historical standards. Topics analyzed include the role played by food markets in mitigating or exacerbating famine, the globalization of disaster relief, the enhanced role of human agency and entitlements, distinctive demography of certain twentieth-century famines, and future prospects for "making famine history."

Subfields: Demography, Gender Studies, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2ae617349952f9c24380c57d5010cb336a0195fe

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Demography

1. Christopher B. Barrett
2. Andrew G. Mude
3. Michael R. Carter
4. D. Vedenov
5. V. Filonov

In Gender Studies

1. Michael R. Carter
2. Christopher B. Barrett

Citations in the corpus

• Poverty Traps and Climate Risk: Limitations and Opportunities of Index-Based Risk Financing (2007, background): “Type I: Safety Nets for Emergency Humanitarian Response8 Historically, “most famines in poor economies are associated with the impact of extreme weather … [and] the worst famines have been the product of back-to-back shortfalls of the staple crop” (Ó Gráda 2007, p.7).”
• Adoption Versus Adaptation, with Emphasis on Climate Change (2012, background): “Grada (2007) documents historical evidence that trade facilitated by access has been an important factor in reducing the likelihood and magnitude of famine.”