Agricultural and Applied Economics—Without Apology
Chris Barrett, who chaired my dissertation committee at Cornell and with whom I have co-authored a good number of articles, was on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” yesterday to talk about the famine in Somalia. In case you missed it, you can listen to it here.
“The causes of the famine are complex, and FEWS-NET reviews them in the link above. Please note that FEWS-NET’s passing reference to ‘significant limitations on humanitarian access have further exacerbated the situation’ is probably the single biggest problem we have right now — delivering aid to a stateless place causes all sorts of problems. You cannot imagine the legal and logistical nightmare that we are trying to negotiate at the moment (and are trying to negotiate for the NGOs that want to help as well) — and that is all I am able to say about that.
Just What Famine-Stricken Somalians Need!
To paraphrase one of my favorite Twitter feeds: “GUYS, there is a famine in the Horn of Africa, and the African Union is ON IT!”: