Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Future of Food?



This past summer the movie Food, Inc. was released in the United States. The movie presents the case against the highly industrialized food system of the United States. The film claims that in the drive to lower production costs for food, particularly meat, producers are creating externalities that make the system unsustainable in the future.

One solution, according to the film, is for consumers to demand more food from regional producers who rely on sustainable methods of production. While these producers create fewer externalities, they also have lower yields. While this may not be a problem for most Americans, who should likely be eating less food (especially meat)anyway, this is an issue for the rest of the world.

The global population will top nine billion people by the year 2050. Many experts think that food production will have to increase by 70% by then to prevent mass starvation. This will likely require a mix of solutions, and industrial agriculture cannot be ruled out of the equation.

After watching Food, Inc. you had an opportunity to explore one of the options below (each option has clickable links in it):




What did you learn from your exploration about the present or future of food production? Write a blog comment of no more than 10 sentences sharing what you discovered. Make it meaty (ha!)- share facts, theories, connections you make to economics class, etc. Don't just waffle on vaguely about the looming food crisis. Post by Thursday 26 November midnight for a second chance or by Sunday 29 November as a final deadline.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

What do you think of sin taxes?


Governments around the world tax unhealthy or otherwise harmful goods like cigarettes and alcohol, and many are also thinking about taxing junk food. Governments use different justifications for these taxes, but they are also widely criticized.

Below are two links to recent articles about increases in sin taxes. Read through them both and tell us what you think of such policies, using economic analysis as you go. Try to focus in narrowly on one issue, rather than making broad statements that touch on many issues. Remember to keep your comment to 10 sentences or less!

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2009-03-31-cigarettetax_N.htm?POE=click-refer

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB125599061198095083-lMyQjAxMDI5NTE1MTkxOTEwWj.html