Adam Smith Famine

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Throughout human history there have been many famines that have devastated societies by causing mass starvation, resulting in high mortality. Many societies have tried to remedy these famines through direct intervention, such as price controls, food confiscation, improved transportation, etc. In the mid 18th century a Scottish economist named Adam Smith, theorized free market ideology. Part of his ideology was the idea that that if government didn’t intervene in the market during times of famine the market would regulate itself and food would get distributed. Free market theory has been tried in times of famine in 18th century France, with subscribers to the ideology believing in the correctness of Smith’s principles, that the market would …show more content…
Tugot subscribed to the ideas of Adam Smith, that if the government removed any regulations and tariffs and allowed free entry into markets, competition between merchants would, “eliminate excessive price differentials between different markets”. This theory also entailed that inflations were inevitable during times of famine but the forces of the market would eventually minimize them. When Turgot was given control of the French economy in 1774, he completely discontinued any government regulations in the trade of flour or grain. When France was afflicted by famine, there were high levels of inflations and grain export. The failure of the government to take any direct action to fix the crisis led to the need of armed forces to repress angry mobs, “within a year, however, he was relying on the king’s troops to quell widespread riots against high prices and grain exports”(O Grada, p.139). The failure of Turgot’s use of the liberalized market to alleviate famine as well with the repression of angry mobs led to his popularity taking a nosedive and his removal in 1776. The failure of Turgot’s reign in France in 1774 is an example that proves that liberalized open markets are an ineffective way to address …show more content…
The failure of the revolutionaries in the Estates General in 1789 is another example of how ineffective free markets have historically been in overcoming famine. In 1789, the revolutionaries of France implemented deregulations and established free trade in the grain market (O Grada, p. 139). When famine hit France in 1794, the revolutionaries gave in to pressure from the Parisian sans culottes and directly intervened to address the famine through use of price controls (O Grada, p. 140). France also had to force hoarders to distribute food in order to get food distributed amongst the masses of France. The reasons why the open market wasn’t able to distribute food during the famine was because during times of food scarcity merchants often deviate from the market to maximize profits. During the famine of 1794, as with most famines, suppliers began hoarding food and selling food in black markets (O Grada, p. 140). While the idea that the open market will get food distributed seems practical in theory, in practice it appears that human behavior during times of extreme food scarcity overrides free market principles. All in all, another example exist in the history of France where the government relying on the supposed self regulating properties of the market to address a famine failed. This is another case that shows
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