Food Insecurity in Asia: Why Institutions Matter

Achieving food security is of utter importance in any nation. However, food insecurity still exists in many developing countries, with Asia home to almost 65% of the world’s undernourished. This calls for urgent action.

Studies that examine differences in food security performance among Asian countries are sparse. This book fills this gap by providing cross-country comparative perspectives on food security improvements. Such a study can be valuable for Asian countries to learn from each other. Country studies included in this book are Bangladesh, the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Pakistan, and Singapore. These countries share similarities but also differ in terms of their institutional settings, natural resource endowments, population size, and level of economic development. This study concludes that institutional differences are the most fundamental determinants of divergent food security status.

Zhang-Yue Zhou is a professor at the College of Business, Law and Governance, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.

Guanghua Wan is a principal economist, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, the Asian Development Bank, Manila, the Philippines.

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