Introduction; Rice price, poverty, and income distribution; The response of paddy supply to price changes; The effects of rice price changes on the rural farm wage rate; The effects of rice price changes on the calorie intake of consumers; The effects of rice price changes on the calorie intake of paddy farmers; The effects of rice price changes on incomes and food consumption of low-income people.

The starting point of Paul Streeten's book is the dilemma, faced by policy makers in many developing countries: should the price of food be high, in order to stimulate production, or low, in order to prevent poor food buyers from starving? The author goes on to discuss the role of prices in the light of these and other objectives. 'It is the work of one of our wisest scholars on what I consider to be the key policy issue for economic development in the 1980s...this provocative essay will be required reading for anyone working on agricultural price policy.' C.Peter Timmer 'It provides solid and practical guidance to scholars and decision-makers. It is lucid, balanced and, above all, useful.' Robert Klitgaard 'Paul Streeten is well known for his gift of explaining the pros and cons of difficult policy issues in a clear, simple and realistic way, appealing to policy-makers, students and the wider development community, as well as to academic colleagues. This gift is fully displayed in his new book, and readers are bound to emerge with a better awareness of the conflicts and policy reforms which are involved.' H.W.Singer

This book sheds light on the causes and effects of food price policy during the development process by examining it in a variety of settings—in Asian countries that range from large to small, and include food importers and exporters, protectionists and free marketers, capitalists and socialists.