Our Take

Rigorous research and policy analysis on critical world issues from the Oakland Institute.

November 30, 2008

Season of Hunger: A Crisis of Food Inflation & Shrinking Safety Nets in the U.S.

Hunger and food insecurity is on the increase in the U.S. as families face ultimatums: to pay for food or rent, food or medicine. In 2006, 42 percent of households chose between food and utilities, 35 percent between food and housing, and 32 percent between food and health care.
July 1, 2006

A New Revolution? Chinese Working Classes Confront the Globalized Economy

Rapidly changing conditions of the working classes in China, and their struggles in response to the new circumstances, have enormous implications for people everywhere. Chinese workers, peasants and migrants, together with elements of the “new middle class,” make up one-fifth of the population of the world. The transformation in their circumstances, and the choices that they make over the next few years, will not only have an impact in China, but will be felt far beyond its borders.
March 1, 2005

Inequity in International Agricultural Trade: The Marginalization of Developing Countries and Their Small Farmers

State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) is a new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that analyzes global trends in agricultural production and trade and documents the inequity and unfairness of the global trade system in terms of its impact on the poorest nations and their small farmers. The study’s findings, based on the examination of 40 years of international trade in agricultural products, expose that the developing countries, and above all the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), do not benefit from integration into the international trade system. The study shows how economic integration has actually contributed to the economic and social decline of the LDCs.