Re:Economists who defend disaster profiteers are wrong
by michaf on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @07:02AM
(#22864579)
> The US economy around 1800 was the first economy in history to produce a consistent food surplus.
Can you provide a source for this claim? Thanks.
Re:Economists who defend disaster profiteers are wrong
by WalterBright on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @02:36PM
(#22869719)
Eugene Weber's series of lectures "The Western Tradition".
Re:Economists who defend disaster profiteers are wrong
by badpun on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @08:24AM
(#22865012)
> The US economy around 1800 was the first economy in history to produce a consistent food surplus.
Poland was a big exporter of food (mostly grain) around XV and XVI century. There was also no hunger in the country, which means that the exported grain constituted a pretty consistent surplus.
Re:Economists who defend disaster profiteers are wrong
by WalterBright on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @02:42PM
(#22869792)
Countries have exported food at least since Roman times. Much of the ancient Mediterranean shipping was transporting food.
Hunger was still a constant specter, though.
Consider the rise in height in Americans after this achievement. This doesn't happen without plenty of food available all the time.
I'm old now. It wasn't until a couple years ago that I EVER went 24 hours without food (I was experimenting with fasting). Historically speaking, that is incredible.
The US economy around 1800 was the first economy in history to produce a consistent food surplus. You can see the results of this in the astonishing increase in the average height of Americans throughout the 19th century.
In the Great Depression, the government ordered the slaughter of millions of hogs in order to try and raise the price of pork.
https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/crops_17.html