Some structural issues in demand and supply of global food production

摘要

Purpose - This paper aims to address the important issue of world food pricing from a new perspective of demand, supply production and preferences. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews the models of demand and supply and introduces the author's own modeling idea in this field of global food pricing and production. Findings - There is no such thing as permanent food scarcity, and that food scarcity is as much an ethical problem as is artificially generated scarcity of the good things of life, the basic needs of life, on which life has a fair share. The paper goes on to explain a relational model of learning to understand complementarities between the basic needs, amongst which essentially is food as a globally provisioned social good. Also endemic in this transformation are the preferences that conscious consumers ought to have, the production that appropriate technology should bring about, and the supply as an elastic function of price in a basic-needs regime of food production and pricing. Research limitations/implications - Further statistical data needed for estimation. Practical implications - The paper explains such a relational model of ethically-induced perspectives on food demand, supply, production and pricing. The paper then investigates how the same issues can be examined in the conventional large-scale econometric models against the data that are available. The paper suggests revisions in such econometric models in the light of the ethically-induced relational model for understanding the issues underlying food demand, production, supply and pricing. Social implications - Several philosophical questions in regard to the appropriateness of the conventional models that fall short of addressing such essential issues, and thus also fail to predict behavior and forecast future, are examined. Some policy, program and strategic implications of the study are pointed out in the analytical conclusion. Originality/value - The paper goes on to explain a relational model of learning to understand complementarities between the basic needs, amongst which essentially is food as a globally provisioned social good. Also endemic in this transformation are the preferences that conscious consumers ought to have, the production that appropriate technology should bring about, and the supply as an elastic function of price in a basic-needs regime of food production and pricing. The paper explains such a relational model of ethically-induced perspectives on food demand, supply, production and pricing. The paper then investigates how the same issues can be examined in the conventional large-scale econometric models against the data that are available.