It’s long been known that agricultural subsidies in the West result in a massive misallocation of funds that could be put to more productive job-creating use elsewhere, while simultaneously hampering growth in the third world.

How should developing countries react when they can’t develop a market-oriented farming industry?  Daniel Drezner links to a NYT op-ed on outsourcing/offshoring that notes one way of doing so:

The rich countries can’t have it both ways. They can’t provide huge subsidies for their agricultural conglomerates and complain when Indians who can’t make a living on their farms then go to the cities and study computers and take away their jobs. Why are Indians willing to write code for a tenth of what Americans make for the same work? It’s not by choice; it’s because they’re still struggling to stand on their feet after 200 years of colonial rule. The day will soon come when Indian companies will find that it’s cheaper to hire computer programmers in Sri Lanka, and then it’s there that the Indian jobs will go.