IB Geography (Diploma Programme)

Hear the word “famine” and many people imagine convoys of trucks piled high with sacks of grain arriving in a region devoid of food.

But in the 21st-century fight against hunger, aid agencies are increasingly deploying cash via food vouchers, text messages or smart cards with electronic chips. If they distribute food, it’s often food bought locally.

A new working paper by researchers including Yale assistant economics professor Nancy Qian has found evidence that American food aid to developing countries may hurt those countries more than it helps.

Qian described the unintended consequences as potentially devastating, by spurring conflict between ethnic groups and exacerbating pre-existing strife. The paper also found that the amount of U.S. grain sent abroad depended more on domestic levels of grain production than on the actual need by the recipient countries.