What do experts say? An Op-Ed round up

Paul Krugman, NY Times editorialist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, identifies bad policy as one of the reasons for the recent increase in food prizes and corresponding food riots. Land is being diverted from the growth of food to the growth of feedstock for ethanol. He boldly says that starvation is increasing because American politicians are so consumed with getting elected, rather than making sound, long-term policy.

Amartya Sen, the renowned scholar on famines, concedes that some of the rise in food prices is caused by natural conditions. But he also points his finger at “misdirected government policy.” Specifically, he believes that corn subsidies and mandated use of ethanol in the United States has created unnecessary competition for what should be food.

Lester Brown and Jonathan Lewis, writing in the Washington Post, argue that the ethanol craze happened for good reason. The ethanol mandates were created for the right reasons (saving the Earth and our national security), but now that evidence is mounting, ethanol is not the best option. The energy answer is not clear, it may actually be harming the environment. The national security issue is false when we are only able to make enough ethanol to cover a small amount of our oil consumption. Finally, they argue that ethanol is contributing to global hunger because of increasing food prices.