When we discuss price policy or food policy, we are talking about a process, not the establishment of a policy set at a fixed time. The question is how capable a society is to formulate a price policy that would allow sustained production and consumption. Unless there are grass roots organizations in place, I doubt that a price policy could be successfully monitored. Unfortunately, it is difficult to build the necessary infrastructure to carry out a food price policy without risk of cumbersome bureaucratic hindrances that eventually render the policy ineffective. With regard to the nutritionist's inability to convey the importance of nutrition to the economist, I think the problem of malnutrition has become so widespread that to think of nutrition only in terms of economics is too narrow a concept.
Malnutrition is is a social problem.
Price policy, as it has been discussed at this Workshop, often means a subsidy, whether it compensates the producer's costs or replaces part of the consumer's income. If such a policy applies to all income groups, those who have political influence may take advantage of the situation to the detriment of lower income groups. In the case of import policies in the Dominican Republic and Chile, as they affect supply and demand, the apparent goal is to increase the availability of goods on the market. Actually, they reflect the activity of the commercial economy and the market and compensate only to a limited degree for lack of available goods, especially in the Dominican Republic over the past five years. The policies in these countries have not increased the availability of food.