Hunger and Welfare

Course Description

Summary

Why does chronic hunger endure even in times of prosperity? How can famine devastate entire regions in extreme cases, while food deserts quietly persist in wealthy countries like the United States? And what does it mean to treat nourishment not as charity or commodity, but as a right of citizenship?

This advanced research seminar in Economics takes up these questions to explore the paradox of hunger in times of growth as well as crisis, and the broader idea of welfare that surrounds it. We will investigate how societies prevent—or fail to prevent—malnutrition and food insecurity, and why solutions demand more than agricultural production or economic growth alone. Welfare, in this context, refers not just to government policy but to the social, political, and economic arrangements that expand people’s entitlements to food, health, education, and secure income.

We will take a two-pronged approach in addressing our questions in this seminar. On the conceptual side, we will draw on political philosophy and political economy to examine debates over whether access to food should be treated as a fundamental social right, and how institutions, program design, and democratic accountability shape food security. A key focus will be the “entitlement approach,” which shows that hunger often arises not from scarcity but from failures in the systems that determine who can command food.

On the empirical side, we will explore these ideas in the specific context of the United States. The course will involve a close examination of spatial data to study patterns of food insecurity. We will explore the key concepts in the course verbally and through written expositions and use mathematical formulations to express the ideas in formal terms, working directly with datasets. Some familiarity with spreadsheet-based data analysis is expected for this purpose. Prior knowledge of statistical theory/applications will be advantageous.

This course is designed for students in their third and fourth years of college. Students in their second year may also join with the prior approval of the instructor.

Course Requirements

The course has two main requirements:
[a] Active class participation grounded in careful reading of assigned materials, and
[b] An empirically-driven research project supported by related homework assignments.

Attendance is mandatory. Students are expected to come to class prepared, having engaged closely with the readings, and to contribute thoughtfully to discussions. In addition, students will carry out empirically grounded research to examine the nature and causes of hunger, food insecurity, and welfare provision in the United States. All datasets will be provided by the instructor; however, please note that the instructor retains oversight and custodianship of these datasets. Any use, citation, or distribution of the data without prior written approval from the instructor would constitute a breach of trust and violate the terms of use.