University:
Boston University
Course:
CAS EC 203 | Empirical Economics 1
Academic year:

2024
Views:

349

Pages:

16
Author:

Kasey Walter

Н U N G Е R Hunier Introduction The need for food is perhaps the most basic of all human needs. People must eat, even if they drink unsafe water, are illiterate, and are not inoculated or vaccinated against diseases. Poor people spend between 70 and 80 per cent of their total income on food, and more than 50 per cent of additional income. Тhе poorest of the poor continue to spend the same proportion on food as their pitiful incomes rise, until they reach the point when this proportion begins to decline. As their incomes rise further, they spend а smaller proportion on food, of that smaller proportion а smaller proportion on cereals, and of that smaller proportion а smaller proportion on the cheaper cereals. Lack of adequate food makes people not only hungry and less аЫе to enjoy life, it also reduces their ability and, Ьу causing apathy and in extreme cases lethargy, their willingness to work productively, and thereby to raise the means to combat their hunger. In addition, it makes them more susceptiЫe to disease Ьу reducing their immunity to infection and other environmental stresses. Prolonged malnutrition among ЬаЫеs and young children leads to reduced adult stature; severe malnutrition is associated with decreased brain size and cell number, as well as altered brain chemistry. Malnutrition of women during pregnancy results in low Ыrth weight of their children, which is а particularly important cause of infant mortality. Children who suffer from severe malnutrition show lags in motor activity, hearing, speech, social and personal behaviour, proЫem-solving ability, eye-hand coordination and categorization behaviour, even after rehaЫlitation. Hunger in this essay includes all conditions resulting from inadequate food intake. From acute starvation in а famine, to liaЫlity to illness and