Testing the food-first hypothesis: A cross-national study of dependency, sectoral growth and food intake in less developed countries

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Previous cross-national studies on dependency and economic growth in less developed countries (LDCs) seldom compare the impacts of different kinds of dependency. Their focus on economic growth also overlooks the fact that growth, per se, does not necessarily benefit the masses. An alternative measure of the absolute living standard of the masses, i.e., food intake, is examined in this paper. This study analyzes data from 73 LDCs. After comparing the effects of manufacturing growth and cereal production growth on food intake, this study supports the food-first hypothesis derived from Lappé and Collins' (1977) work, since it demonstrates that in most LDCs, even in middle-income LDCs, cereal production has a much stronger effect on food intake than does manufacturing growth.