Wasting food is good for the hungry

You know how when you're a kid your mom always tells you to eat all the food you're given because "There's starving children in Africa!"? A thought occurred to me today. Not the usual thought that the starving kids in africa would not want my tofu stir-fry by the time it could be shipped to them, but something else. In a way, me wasting food is actually good for the hungry people in the world!

Let me explain. If I take more food than I should, or if I allow food to go bad that I have purchased, I am essentially artificially inflating the demand for food (both worldwide and locally). When demand rises, supply follows (on a long-term scale). When supply rises, prices fall. When the price of food falls, the poor can afford food more. Thus, by spending more than I had to on food, I have created economic benefit. I am satisfied in having more options and flexibility in my eating habits, the poor benefit from the drop in prices, and food producers/growers benefit from increased sales.

Now, the above thought doesn't take into account the fact that an increase in demand in a certain area may lead to temporary shortages which would increase the price of food temporarily, but supply would then catch up and even things out with lower prices overall in the long term. I'm sure there are other arguments to be made here as this is just an off-the-cuff thought, but I do find it interesting

The point to be made here is to actually think through commonly-accepted wisdom and determine how wise it actually is. Many things we "know" are not true but have just been repeated so often by so many people that we actually think they are true.


An area of policy that I am interested in but know very little about is farm subsidies and their effect on the economy. Another area related to food that I'm interested in is FDA regulation. I suppose the two are tied together in some cases, but my knowledge is very limited in these areas. Any good links you could leave in the comments or books you could recommend would be welcome.