Even as the global market looks increasingly unsteady, China's economy continues to boom. It has already become apparent that this rapid growth is contributing to increasing income inequality.

The Financial Times argues that China should learn from Brazil by combatting economic inequality with more social spending on things like health care and education.

Photo Credit: Ells Culver/Mercy Corps

China today is making up for its technological deficits by undergoing an industrial revolution the size of which has never been seen. While it is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, there is still an important human perspective to what is taking place. The New York Times recently created a slideshow of images its reporters and photographers have collected from around China, documenting the lives of individuals participating in its rapid industrial expansion.

Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Rising rice prices have created new problems for those countries, mostly in Asia, which depend on a large, inexpensive supply of the food, according to the Financial Times. This week, prices hit a 20-year high, "prompting importing countries to seek assurances on supplies."

Analysts have attributed the surge in rice prices to bad weather that has hit supply; urbanisation that has cut the acreage given over to cultivating the grain; and strong demand on the back of rapid income growth in China, India and other Asian countries...Asia has not known famines since the 1970s, and recent price rises for rice and other basic foodstuffs have sparked unrest.

Photo: marirs (flickr)

The potato has been making headlines recently, and the gist of all the stories is that we are not to be taking this celebrated spud for granted.

In Peru, where the potato originated, cultural identity is interwoven with this root vegetable. "Potato is not just food. Potato is also spirituality; it's culture," one Peruvian told National Public Radio. "There are songs, dances, ceremonies. So this is a potato land … a culture of potato."

The potato may be in for some rough times ahead, though, as climate change and unpredictable weather create conditions that may allow for diseases and growing problems never before seen in this region.

The Economist links the potato to the growth of free trade in 19th century Britain. Even today, it claims in a recent exposé, "potatoes are now an icon of globalisation."

Declaring 2008 the "International Year of the Potato", the United Nations is working hard to remind us all about this tuber’s higher merits. UN experts emphasize the potato’s value as a prospective solution to poverty, hunger and economic security issues.

All that potential, in just one little vegetable? We would never have guessed....