Why is progress in reducing world hunger and poverty so difficult? Hunger and malnutrition compromise the ability to work and produce and are the cause of millions of deaths each year. ESA research and field work seeks to understand why hunger and poverty are so persistent in the world today and what should be done in order to achieve a sustainable and substantial reduction in poverty.

Research includes: empirical work on the "cost of hunger" in terms of productivity and growth; conceptual work on the role of a rights-based approach to hunger reduction; comparative studies on how resource abundance can contribute to hunger reduction; the role of safety nets in reducing hunger and poverty; and a series of case studies which examine the determinants of success and the reasons for failure in achieving food security for a variety of development initiatives in countries throughout the world.