Famine: A Short History

List of Figures and Tables xi Acknowledgments xv Chapter I: The Third Horseman 1 The Ultimate Check 8 Time and Place 13 How Common Were Famines in the Past? 25 Remembering Famine 39 Chapter II: The Horrors of Famine 45 Crime 52 Slavery 56 Prostitution, Infanticide, and Child Abandonment 59 Cannibalism 63 Chapter III: Prevention and Coping 69 Famine Foods 73 Country Misers and Calculating Merchants 78 Migration 81 Chapter IV: Famine Demography 90 Hierarchies of Suffering 90 How Many Died? 92 Gender and Age 98 Missing Births 102 What Do People Die of during Famines? 108 Long-term Impacts 121 Chapter V: Markets and Famines 129 Profiteers 129 French Economistes and Adam Smith 137 Markets and Famines in Practice 143 Transport 155 Conclusion 157 Chapter VI: Entitlements: Bengal and Beyond 159 Bengal 159 Food Supply and Market Failure 166 Winners and Losers 178 Conclusion 184 Chapter VII: Public and Private Action 195 Feeding the Starving 195 Means of Relief 210 Corruption 216 NGOs and the Globalization of Relief 218 Famine Relief as State Aid 225 Chapter VIII: The "Violence of Government" 229 War by Another Means 229 The USSR 233 The Chinese Famine of 1959-61 241 Ethiopia and North Korea 254 Chapter IX: An End to Famine? 259 Agricultural Trends 262 Climate and Desertification 269 Where Backwardness Persists 274 A Stitch in Time 278 References 283 Index 319

Cormac OGrada is professor of economics at University College Dublin. His books include "Jewish Ireland in the Age of Joyce" (Princeton), "Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory" (Princeton), and "Ireland: A New Economic History, 1780-1939".