Great Leap Forward Famine Research Articles

Great leap forward famine exposure and urban-rural migration convolute the modern prevalence of diabetes in China

BackgroundAlthough evidence from birth cohort analysis has indicated the metabolic risk of early-life exposure to the Great Leap Forward Famine (GLFF) in China, three confounding effects, including the exposure windows, aging, and geographical variations in famine severity, have been brought to debates for a decade. This study aimed to address these confounding effects and extensively examine how GLFF exposure is associated with diabetes risk in mid-to-late life and its interaction with urban-rural migration.MethodsData from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were analyzed with age-stratification and stepped wedge approaches. Weighted prevalence and multivariable logistic regression were used to investigate the effects of GLFF exposure and urban-rural migration on mid-to-late life diabetes risk and the interaction between GLFF exposure and urban-rural migration. Birth provinces were controlled as a fixed effect to account for variations in famine severity across provinces.ResultsCompared to those who were never exposed to GLFF, fetal GLFF exposure was associated with a higher risk of adult-onset diabetes after controlling for provinces, demographics, and health statuses. Yet, after adding the proxy of childhood growth environments into the model, fetal exposure to GLFF was not significantly associated with adult-onset diabetes risk (OR = 1.22, p = 0.10), compared to those who were never exposed to GLFF. Across the three age-stratification groups, static urban residents, in general, had a higher risk of diabetes compared to static rural residents. Interaction effects between GLFF exposure and urban-rural migration were insignificant across all three age-stratification groups.ConclusionFetal exposure to GLFF might have a traceable effect on adult-onset diabetes risk. Yet, the growth environment and urban lifestyle outweigh and further confound the impact of GLFF exposure on adult-onset diabetes risk.

Echo Effects of Health Shocks: The Intergenerational Consequences of Prenatal and Early-Life Malnutrition during the Great Leap Forward Famine in China

Relatively few studies have examined the ‘echo effect’ of health shocks related to prenatal and early-life malnutrition, that is, whether the legacy of such shocks is transmitted to the next generation. This study addresses this gap by leveraging extreme malnutrition during the Great Leap Forward famine in China, and by examining its intergenerational consequences. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we estimate the effect of the famine on a wide range of outcomes of children of mothers who were exposed in-utero and in early-life including income, education, and employment, indicators that have not been considered in detail before. Using a refined measure of famine exposure at the prefecture level in rural areas, and by exploiting rich data on those directly affected and their children, we find that on average, the famine had negative echo effects on second-generation outcomes. These echo effects are primarily due to adverse impacts on daughters. Mechanisms include impacts of the famine on the human capital of mothers, and suggestive evidence of son preference. Our results withstand a battery of robustness, specification and falsification checks.

Concurrency of Early-Age Exposure to Chinese Famine and Diabetes Increases Recurrence of Ischemic Stroke.

Background and Purpose: Early age exposure to the Chinese Great Leap Forward famine (1959–1961) is associated with the incidence of risk factors for ischemic stroke. This study aims to examine the relationship between early age famine exposure and 12-month stroke recurrence. We sought to explore the interaction between famine exposure status and metabolic phenotypes on stroke recurrence and how the adherence of crucial evidence-based key performance indicators (KPI) would modify this interaction.Methods: We analyzed data of patients who were born between 1953 and 1964 in the China National Stroke Registry II (CNSR-II). The study population was further divided into five subgroups for comparing 12-month stroke recurrence. A multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model was used in analyzing the impact of the concurrence of metabolic phenotypes—type 2 diabetes (T2D) or metabolic syndrome (MetS)—and early-age famine exposure on recurrent risk. The influence of the adherence to predefined KPI and concurrency of metabolic phenotype was also evaluated.Results: Concurrent T2D and early age famine exposure was associated with an increased recurrence risk of ischemic stroke with 12 months [adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.28–2.07]. Optimal adherence to KPI was not associated with significantly reduced risk of 12-month stroke recurrence (adjusted HR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.51–1.26).Conclusions: Concurrency of early-age famine exposure and diabetes mellitus was associated with a higher risk of stroke recurrence within 12 months, and adherence to evidence-based KPI did not reduce the risk significantly.

Echo Effects of Early-Life Health Shocks: The Intergenerational Consequences of Prenatal Malnutrition During the Great Leap Forward Famine in China

Few studies have examined the of early-life shocks related to prenatal malnutrition, that is, whether the legacy of such shocks is transmitted to the next generation. This study addresses this gap by leveraging extreme malnutrition during the Great Leap Forward famine in China, and by examining the intergenerational consequences of the famine on those who were not directly impacted. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we estimate the causal effect of the famine on a wide range of outcomes of children of mothers who were exposed in-utero including income, education, employment, and intergenerational income mobility; indicators that have not been considered in detail in the literature. We further contribute by using a refined measure of famine exposure at the prefecture level in rural areas, and by exploiting rich data on those directly affected and their children. We find that on average, the famine had negative echo effects on second-generation outcomes. These echo effects are primarily due to the adverse impacts on daughters, perhaps reflecting a combination of positive selection of sons born to mothers exposed to prenatal malnutrition during the famine and cultural aspects such as son preference. Our results withstand a battery of robustness and specification checks.

Exposure to Chinese famine in early life modifies the association between hyperglycaemia and cardiovascular disease

Background and aimsThe Great Leap Forward Famine during 1959–1961 was the world's largest famine, and its adverse long-term effects might be more apparent in the coming decade with ageing of the exposed populations. The aim of this study was to examine whether the Chinese Famine modified the effect of hyperglycaemia on cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods and resultsWe used data of 4337 adults born between 1952 and 1964 collected from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) between hyperglycaemia and CVD. The prevalence of CVD showed significant difference among different famine exposure cohorts (P = 0.0156). After multivariable adjustment, the ORs (95% CIs) were as follows: 1.46 (0.94, 2.26) for late childhood, 1.76 (1.06, 2.90) for mid childhood, 1.40 (0.86, 2.27) for early childhood, 2.55 (1.30, 5.02) for the foetal cohort and 1.10 (0.63, 1.95) for the non-exposed cohort. There was a significant interaction between hyperglycaemia and famine exposure for CVD (P = 0.0374). In addition, the subgroup analyses showed that the effect of hyperglycaemia on CVD in the foetal exposure cohort was significantly higher than those in any of the other famine-exposed cohorts, especially in those who lived in rural areas (OR: 4.67, 95% CI: 1.70–12.84), those who lived in severe famine areas (OR: 5.01, 95% CI: 1.22–20.66) and those who were men (OR: 3.66, 95% CI: 1.01–13.33). ConclusionExposure to the Chinese Famine, especially during the foetal stage of life, aggravated the association between hyperglycaemia and CVD.

Incidence of breast cancer in Chinese women exposed to the 1959\u20131961 great Chinese famine

BackgroundThe association of malnutrition in early life with breast cancer risk has been studied in Europe by investigating survivors of the Dutch Hunger Winter Famine, but not in China. We evaluated the effect of exposure to the 1959–1961 Great Leap Forward famine on subsequent breast cancer risk in Chinese women.MethodsA total of 59,060 women born in 1955~1966 were recruited from Minhang district, Shanghai, China, during the period 2008 to 2012. A baseline survey was conducted to collect demographic characteristics and known risk factors for breast cancer. Incident breast cancers were identified by conducting record linkage with the Shanghai Cancer Registry up to June 30, 2015, and confirmed through medical records. Cumulative probabilities of cancer incidence were evaluated after adjusting for age, educational level and other confounders. Cox regression models were applied to estimate the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of breast cancer.ResultsThe overall crude incidence of in situ and invasive breast cancer were 19.2 and 115.0 per 100,000, respectively, in women conceived or born during the famine (1959–1962), slightly higher than those in women born before (1955–1958) (13.2 and 109.8/100,000) and after (1963–1966) (10.4 and 101.5/100,000). Particularly, at age group of 50–52 years when all participants contributed person-year of observations, the age-specific incidence of invasive breast cancer was higher in pre-natal exposed women (123.7/100,000, 95%CI: 94.5–161.9/100,000) than in post-natal exposed (109.6/100,000, 95%CI: 69.1–174.0/100,000) and unexposed women (82.7/100,000, 95%CI: 46.9–145.7/100,000). However, the incidence of cancer in situ was slightly lower in pre-natal exposed women at the age group. Adjusted cumulative probabilities of breast cancer incidence, both in-situ and invasive, were also observed to be higher in women exposed to the famine, however, the difference was not statistically significant.ConclusionOur results suggest a possible adverse, but limited, impact of exposure to the Great famine on the risk of breast cancer in Chinese women.

Early life exposure to China's 1959-61 famine and midlife cognition.

Existing studies of the 1944-45 Dutch famine found little evidence of the association between early life malnutrition and midlife cognition. Among 2446 rural participants born between 1958 and 1963 in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we examined effects of exposure to China's 1959-61 Great Leap Forward famine during prenatal and early postnatal life, on four cognitive measures in 2011 (baseline) and changes in cognition between 2011 and 2013 (first follow-up). We obtained difference-in-differences (DID) estimates of the famine effects by exploiting temporal variation in the timing and duration of famine exposure across six birth cohorts born between 1958 and 1963, together with geographical variation in famine severity at the prefecture level. After adjusting for gender, marital status and provincial fixed effects, we found that the 1961 cohort who experienced full-term prenatal and partial-term postnatal exposures to famine had lower scores on the Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status (TICS), a test of drawing pentagons, and general cognition at age 50 years compared with the unexposed 1963 cohort. Adjusting for education, the famine effects on drawing pentagons and general cognition were fully attenuated, but the effect on TICS persisted. We also found a robust negative famine effect on the longitudinal change in general cognition during the 2-year follow-up in the 1959 cohort. Severe nutritional deprivation during prenatal and postnatal periods has a lasting impact on cognitive performance in Chinese adults in their early 50s.

Exposure to the Chinese famine of 1959–61 in early life and long-term health conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Most Chinese people over 55 years old today have experienced the Great Leap Forward Famine of 1959-61. Many reports suggested that the famine could have profound long-term health effects for exposed birth cohorts. A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out to summarize reported famine effects on long-term health. Relevant reports were identified by searching PubMed, Embase, Chinese Wanfang Data and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. Long-term health conditions were compared in exposed birth cohorts and unexposed controls. Fixed-effects models and random-effects models were used to combine results on adult overweight, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hyperglycaemia, hypertension, the metabolic syndrome and schizophrenia. The heterogeneity across reports was assessed. Subgroup analyses were carried out using reported famine severity, provincial mortality during famine, sex and other report characteristics. In all, 36 reports were eligible for systematic review and 21 could be used for meta-analysis. The number of events we analysed ranged from 1029 for hyperglycaemia to 8973 for hypertension. As reported by others, overweight, type 2 diabetes, hyperglycaemia, the metabolic syndrome, and schizophrenia were more common among adults born during the famine compared with controls born after the famine. By contrast, there were no increases in overweight [odds ratio (OR) 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.27-1.72], type 2 diabetes (OR 0.96; 95% CI: 0.73-1.28), hyperglycaemia (OR 0.99; 95% CI: 0.72-1.36) or the metabolic syndrome (OR 1.11; 95% CI: 1.00-1.22) comparing adults born during the famine with controls born either after or before the famine. For schizophrenia, the effect estimates (OR 1.60; 95% CI: 1.50-1.70, combining control groups) were similar in the two scenarios. Our findings suggest that uncontrolled age differences between famine and post-famine births could explain most effects commonly attributed to the famine. For more reliable estimates of long-term famine effects in China, other analyses will be needed with age-appropriate controls and better information on the severity and timing of the famine in the populations included.

Exposure to the Chinese famine of 1959–61 in early life and current health conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundMany middle-aged Chinese people have experienced the Great Leap Forward Famine of 1959–61, which could have profound long-term health consequences for exposed birth cohorts. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarise reported famine effects on long-term health. MethodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, Chinese Wanfang Data, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases up to December, 2015, for health outcomes related to the Chinese famine, with the keywords “China”, “famine”, “undernutrition”, “Chinese famine”, “Great Leap Forward”, and “Great famine”, and the MESH terms “starvation” or “malnutrition” combined with “China” or “Chinese”. We compared outcomes in famine births and unexposed controls. We used fixed-effects models and random-effects models to combine reports of adult overweight, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hyperglycaemia, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and schizophrenia. We assessed heterogeneity across reports. We did subgroup analyses by reported famine severity, provincial mortality during famine, and sex. FindingsOf 3976 records identified, 36 reports met our inclusion criteria and 21 could be used for pooled meta-analysis. The number of analysed events ranged from 1029 for hyperglycemia to 9248 for hypertension. As reported by others, type 2 diabetes, hyperglycaemia, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and schizophrenia were more common among adults born in the famine years than among controls born after the famine. By contrast, there were no increases in type 2 diabetes (odds ratio 0·96, 95% CI 0·73–1·28), hyperglycaemia (0·99, 0·72–1·36), hypertension (0·93, 0·82–1·04), or metabolic syndrome (1·11, 1·00–1·22) comparing adults born in the famine years with controls born either after or before the famine combined. For schizophrenia, the effect estimates (odds ratio 1·60, 95% CI 1·50–1·70, combining controls) were similar in the two scenarios. InterpretationUncontrolled age differences between famine and post-famine births could explain most effects commonly attributed to the famine. Further studies with better controls for age, famine severity, and sex are needed to obtain reliable estimates of long-term famine effects in China. FundingNone.

The Long-term Health Effects of Fetal Malnutrition: Evidence from the 1959-1961 China Great Leap Forward Famine.

We report evidence of long-term adverse health impacts of fetal malnutrition exposure of middle-aged survivors of the 1959-1961 China Famine using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. We find that fetal exposure to malnutrition has large and long-lasting impacts on both physical health and cognitive abilities, including the risks of suffering a stroke, physical disabilities in speech, walking and vision, and measures of mental acuity even half a century after the tragic event. Our findings imply that policies and programs that improve the nutritional status of pregnant women yield benefits on the health of a fetus that extend through the life cycle in the form of reduced physical and mental impairment.

Long-Term Effects of Famine on Chronic Diseases: Evidence from China's Great Leap Forward Famine.

We evaluate the long-term effects of famine on chronic diseases using China's Great Leap Forward Famine as a natural experiment. Using a unique health survey, we explore the heterogeneity of famine intensity across regions and find strong evidence supporting both the adverse effect and the selection effect. The two offsetting effects co-exist and their magnitudes vary in different age cohorts at the onset of famine. The selection effect is dominant among the prenatal/infant famine-exposed cohort, while the adverse effect appears dominant among the childhood/puberty famine-exposed cohort. The net famine effects are more salient in rural residents and non-migrants subsamples. Gender differences are also found, and are sensitive to smoking and drinking behaviors. Our conclusion is robust to various specifications. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

胎生期環境と生活習慣病発症機序

Worldwide, lifestyle-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are presently the leading causes of death and disability, and their incidences tend to increase. A lifestyle-related disease has been considered mainly to be induced by specific disease susceptibility genes and lifestyle after birth. However, the steep increase in the incidences of lifestyle-related diseases is difficult to be explained only by specific genes. Presently, a new theory has been proposed. Epidemiological and animal studies have disclosed the intimate links between malnutrition in the developmental stage and lifestyle-related chronic diseases. Such studies provide the foundation and framework for a new life science, that is, the theory of developmental origins of health and diseases (DOHaD). Although much research has been carried out to elucidate the putative concepts and mechanisms that relate specific exposures in early life to the risk of chronic diseases, a complete picture still remains obscure. Historically, the world has experienced severe famines, for example, the Dutch Winter Famine, the Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine, the Leningrad Siege and the Biafran Famine. These famines showed that malnutrition in utero poses higher risks of lifestyle-related diseases. The main research point has been focused on periconceptional and perinatal undernutrition and specific nutrient deficiencies. However, presently, the number of people who are overweight and obese has been increasing. Therefore, perinatal overnutrition and specific nutrient excesses should also be examined. In addition, psychological stress, environmental chemicals and artificial reproductive techniques are other important research fields in DOHaD.

The Act of Remembering, the Xianchang of Recording

The Minjian jiyi yingxiang jihua or Folk/Minjian Memory Project of Caochangdi (CCD) Workstation in Beijing, led by Wu Wenguang and Wen Hui, provides a multi-media effort springing from interviews by a team of young people in the countryside about the Great Leap Forward Famine of the late 1950s. The project combines feature documentaries with the archiving of oral history video, and embeds the resulting digital work in theatrical performances. This essay concentrates upon several of its early documentaries that combine the aesthetics of “making-of” films with a “filial quest,” a search for historical news to expand the self in history, in a human time that is counted in generations. Amid ongoing and constantly remade filial obligation and attachments of love and anger, these documentary makers and the people they film wrestle with this fact: while memories are objectifications of the past, remembering is an act in the present.

Long-Term Effects of Famine on Chronic Diseases: Evidence from China's Great Leap Forward Famine

We estimate long-term effects of famine on chronic diseases using China’s Great Leap Forward Famine as a natural experiment. Using a unique health survey, we explore the heterogeneity of famine intensity across regions and find strong evidence supporting both the adverse and selection effects. The two offsetting effects co-exist and their magnitudes vary in different age cohorts at the onset of famine. We find that the adverse effect dominates in the puberty cohort and the selection effect dominates in the prenatal/infant cohort. The net famine effects are more salient for rural residents than for urban residents. Gender differences are also found and sensitive to smoking and drinking behaviors. Our conclusion is robust to various specifications.

Eating people is wrong, and other essays on famine, its past, and its future

Famines are becoming smaller and rarer, but optimism about the possibility of a famine-free future must be tempered by the threat of global warming. That is just one of the arguments that Cormac O Grada, one of the world’s leading authorities on the history and economics of famine, develops in this wide-ranging book, which provides crucial new perspectives on key questions raised by famines around the globe between the seventeenth and twenty-first centuries. The book begins with a taboo topic. O Grada argues that cannibalism, while by no means a universal feature of famines and never responsible for more than a tiny proportion of famine deaths, has probably been more common during very severe famines than previously thought. The book goes on to offer new interpretations of two of the twentieth century’s most notorious and controversial famines, the Great Bengal Famine and the Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine. O Grada questions the standard view of the Bengal Famine as a perfect example of market failure, arguing instead that the primary cause was the unwillingness of colonial rulers to divert food from their war effort. The book also addresses the role played by traders and speculators during famines more generally, invoking evidence from famines in France, Ireland, Finland, Malawi, Niger, and Somalia since the 1600s, and overturning Adam Smith’s claim that government attempts to solve food shortages always cause famines. Thought-provoking and important, this is essential reading for historians, economists, demographers, and anyone else who is interested in the history and possible future of famine.

Serve the City! Urban disaster governance in Tianjin city 1958–1962

AbstractUsing new archival materials, internal publications, and gazetteers as its sources, this article studies the conduct of disaster governance in Tianjin city during the Great Leap Forward famine from 1958–1962. The city was organizationally well able to implement disaster relief efforts, and early on it took a number of measures to control and mitigate the food crisis that began in the city in early 1959. However, Maoist campaign-based disaster management could not work well when other campaigns were prioritized in its stead. Lacking central sanction for a major disaster relief effort, city leaders resorted to strategies that prioritized its residents over suburban peasants and outsiders. The city actively sought resources from outside while trying to prevent their outward flows. The city's own production of vegetables must not be overlooked as one of the reasons for better survival rates among urban residents, but even this policy was hampered by other Great Leap Forward initiatives. In the case of Tianjin, urban disaster governance of the famine was inward-looking and, at the same time, constrained and reliant on the central government.

Database of Chinese Great Leap Forward and Great Famine 1958–1962., edited and compiled by The Editorial Board of The Chinese Great Leap Forward and Great Famine Database (Chief Editor: Song Yongyi; Editorial Board:, Gui Jian, Ding Shu, Zhou Yuan, Dong Guoqiang, Shen Zhijia, Zhou Zehao and Yu Xiguang; Foreword by, Hu Jiwei). CD-ROM. Hong Kong: Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

<i>Database of Chinese Great Leap Forward and Great Famine 1958–1962</i>., edited and compiled by The Editorial Board of <i>The Chinese Great Leap Forward and Great Famine Database</i> (Chief Editor: Song Yongyi; Editorial Board:, Gui Jian, Ding Shu, Zhou Yuan, Dong Guoqiang, Shen Zhijia, Zhou Zehao and Yu Xiguang; Foreword by, Hu Jiwei). CD-ROM. Hong Kong: Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

The Long-Term Health Effects of Fetal Malnutrition: Evidence from the 1959-1961 China Great Leap Forward Famine

We report evidence of long-term adverse health impacts of in utero exposure to malnutrition based on survivors in their 50s who were born during the China Famine that occurred in the years 1959-1961. We take advantage of recently available data provided by the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to corroborate evidence supporting the Fetal Origin Hypothesis.We find that fetal exposure to malnutrition has large and long-lasting impacts on both physical health and cognitive abilities, including the risks of suffering a stroke, physical disabilities in speech, walking and vision, and measures of mental acuity. Our findings on the health impacts of fetal malnutrition on middle-age survivors suggest that it would be desirable to trace the changes of health status of the famine survivors as they age into later life stages. We suspect that such further study would support the lifetime benefits of in utero and early infancy health interventions that extend through the life cycle in the form of avoiding both physical and mental impairment.

Malnutrition, sex ratio, and selection: a study based on the great leap forward famine.

This study tests the evolutionary hypothesis that maternal nutritional condition can influence offspring sex ratio at birth in humans. Using the 1959-1961 Chinese Great Leap Forward famine as a natural experiment, this study combines two large-scale national data sources and difference-in-differences method to identify the effect of famine-induced acute malnutrition on sex ratio at birth. The results show a significant famine-induced decrease in the proportion of male births in the 1958, 1961, and 1964 in the urban population but not in the rural population. Given that both the urban and rural populations suffered from the famine-induced malnutrition, and that the rural population experienced a drastic famine-induced mortality increase and fertility reduction, these results suggest the presence of a short-term famine effect, a long-term famine effect, and a selection effect. The timing of the estimated famine effects suggests that famine influences sex ratio at birth by differential implantation and differential fetal loss by fetal sex.

Food Riots and the Politics of Provisions in World History

SummaryThe food riots of 2007–8 in dozens of developing countries placed food security on the agendas of the global political economy. Material outcomes remain to be assessed. The problematic of the politics of provisions is: Under what circumstances do the common people's necessities create a political necessity for their rulers to act? What combination of ingredients gives them political leverage (or not)? Food riots (crowd violence: usually seizing food, intercepting carts and barges, or setting prices) set in motion political processes that often led to food relief and/or repression. To riot about food, rioters needed much more than motivations of hunger and outrage, or else world history would consist mostly of food riots. In addition rioters needed both sufficient solidarities to be able to act collectively, and sufficient confidence that the benefits (getting food, both immediately and in more sustained supply) would outweigh the risks and costs of repression and punishment. The latter would be based on reciprocal relationships with the rulers. The outcomes of such ‘trials‐by‐ordeal’ were then entered into social memory to be consulted in the next crisis. Of course rulers also had their social memories and political calculations. So the ‘politics of provisions’ – the political economy of food crises and their resolutions – has typically included such components as: political, social, and economic structures; the players' sociopolitical assets, capacities, and relationships; shared ideologies; strategic bargaining in the moment between chief actors; and accidental factors. Those components vary from one time and place to another, so this paper compares the politics of provisions in: pre‐modern England and France; famines in Ireland and India; ‘famine‐proofed’ Ming and Qing China; Mao's Great Leap Forward Famine; the IMF austerity riots of the 1970s and 80s; and the food riots of 2008, particularly in Egypt, West Africa, and Haiti. The point of such comparisons is not to construct a unified theory of provision politics, but to illuminate significant parameters that shape policies and conflicts over food.