In economics, we talk about “margins” all the time, without really thinking about them. Yet, somebody, somewhere is on the margin. There’s someone for whom a 1% increase in food prices is the difference between life and death.

I’m struggling to figure out if it has to be this way in a market economy. Does markets plus people’s individual incentives to procreate mean that there is necessarily always someone who is on the margin of life and death with respect to food (and other) prices? A life-and-death prisoners’ dilemma? Do we need population control at least to ensure this doesn’t happen?

I’m thinking about this because the Washington Post has a special feature about the Global Food Crisis. Part of me wants to think that this is yet more media-driven gloom-and-doom hype. On the other hand, they have a video (available tomorrow) titled On the Margins in Mauritania.