How to avoid starvation? The war in Ukraine is aggravating the food crisis, especially in Africa. Soaring commodity prices make certain commodities inaccessible. Eco guest of franceinfo, Friday July 1, the economist Esther Duflo, professor at MIT, and winner of the Nobel Prize in 2019, believes that “even without Ukrainian cereals, today we could feed all those who are hungry“.”There is enough to eat in the world“, she assures.
“Crises just add up in a terrifying way for some people“, underlines the development specialist, who imagines quick solutions to put in place.
To fight against famine, it is not necessary to move food. Just send people money that they are able to spend perfectly well.
Esther Duflo, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyon franceinfo
The economist gives the example of Togo: “It was done during the Covid. The government of Togo has succeeded in setting up a financial transfer system via telephones in a few weeks, very efficiently and very quickly. This type of system has developed well during the pandemic and could be used today to deploy financial transfers for populations in need.“.
In France, to mitigate the soaring prices, the government proposes to pay, at the start of the school year, a sum of 100 euros, at least, to the households most in difficulty. “For once, we can think that it would be better for a more sustainable solution to ensure a minimum standard of living for the poorest people in France, with social transfers financed by a higher redistributive tax.“, reacts the Nobel Prize winner.
According to her, it is better “redistribute than increase the total mass” money in circulation, in particular to avoid an acceleration of inflation. Esther Duflo imagines “a fairer and more rational tax on companies but also on individuals“.