"Global Networks and New Histories Rice today is food to half the world's population. Its history is inextricably entangled with the emergence of colonialism, the global networks of industrial capitalism, and the modern world economy. The history of rice is currently a vital and innovative field...

The world food problem -- Mexico's way out -- A continent of peasants -- We shall release the waters -- A very big, very poor country -- Parable of seeds -- You can't eat steel -- The meaning of famine -- The conquest of hunger -- Present at the recreation

Since the late-1990s, the global economy is characterised by historically low risk premia and an unprecedented widening of external imbalances. This paper explores to what extent these two global trends can be understood as a reaction to three structural shocks in different regions of the global...