Harvard development studies professor Peter Timmer’s new book, Food Security and Scarcity: Why Ending Hunger Is So Hard (University of Pennsylvania Press, $51.80), shows how so many countries are mismanaging their food and agriculture programs, in the process leaving billions of people around the world without access to enough food or proper nutrition. Taking into account decades of research on the topic, Timmer concludes that only a balance of free markets and government intervention can reduce food scarcity and help people live healthier, happier and more peaceful lives.
