Making economics palatable

In Edible Economics, Ha-Joon Chang takes a global approach to food to deliver a stinging critique of the neoclassical order

Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World
Author: Ha-Joon Chang

Publisher: Penguin Books

Pages: 191

Price: Rs 999

In the middle of the 20th century, as most of the world’s colonised nations were gaining independence, economists were arguing about the best approach to development. India, enamoured by the growth in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, followed a mixed economy model, under which the state did the heavy lifting. The goal was to turn the country into an industrialised nation within 25 years—the remarkable feat USSR had achieved after the October Revolution in 1917. Different models of development emerged as two competing blocs battled on the global stage. The world was bipolar, but economics diversified into several groups. However, as the USSR started losing its sheen and the world started becoming unipolar, so did economics. One of the casualties of American hegemony was economics, as the neoclassical vision pushed all other ideas to the fringe. Now that there is a change in world order again, economics is diversifying away. More importantly, a few decades of neoclassical economics has given others enough fodder to deliberate on its success and failures. Capitalism, given the great crisis of 2008, has met a similar fate. 

Ha-Joon Chang’s work is an extension of this deliberation on the neoclassical world. The author, in this case, relies on food to make the subject more palatable. He starts with the British food scene to describe the changes in the field and draws parallels between the food in Britain and the economics throughout the world. Then he takes a global approach to food to deliver a stinging critique of the neoclassical approach. He discusses the Washington Consensus, neoliberal politics and the failure of “cookie cutter” method.

Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World  is divided into five parts and 17 chapters. The first part sets the conditions for the rest of the work. Aptly named “Overcoming prejudices” it focuses on the role of culture, misconception around free markets and poverty in developing countries. Dr Chang’s focus is to deconstruct some of the misconceptions around the neoclassical notion of economics, which places primacy on freedom of markets. He highlights how champions of free market policies protected their industry from competition until they were able to compete, but scoffed at the idea of the developing world doing the same. Similarly, he highlights the hypocrisy of some of the Western economies in promoting free trade and then imposing exacting conditions on weaker economies, making that trade favourable for them. The chapter on bananas, talks about the United States’ role in chaos in South America for control over land, trade and enterprise.

 Dr Chang also focuses on the state-directed growth model in South Korea, which led to the emergence of Hyundai, Samsung as global entities. Then he pivots back to explaining the failures of neoclassical worldview. In this endeavour, some of the points he raises become repetitive. In certain places, the author circles around a topic for too long to establish his opinion. Take the case of religion, where the same fact is repeated time and again to draw the reader’s attention. The entry point for each chapter is similar, it starts with a dish connected to the prime ingredient, then connects it to the economic concept or condition. The author uses carrots to explain patents and brings in the discussion on Golden Rice, uses Coca-Cola to explain the role of corporations, and chicken to illustrate economic equality. In some of the chapters, the links are obscure, but those instances are few and far between.

The overall theme of the book is a rallying cry against the established economic order. Barring the repetitions and the somewhat hard driving nature of Dr Chang’s opinions that sometimes trump objective assessment, the book is an enjoyable read. It presents the reader with some interesting facts—such as the corn laws in the UK—and challenges her to think beyond the established paradigm. It also puts a lot of geopolitics and economic decisions in context. All told, Dr Chang emerges victorious in his mission to simplify economics for everyone.