IIASA research has produced a comprehensive framework for analyzing the world food system, widely know as the Basic Linked System (BLS). The BLS views national agricultural systems as embedded in national economies; these, in turn, interact at the international level. In recent applications, the analysis has addressed development paradigms as defined by the IPCC Working Group III for the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES).

Four books and numerous journal articles have been published about the model system and the results of policy analyses conducted with it. A detailed description of the system is provided in Fischer et al. (1988). Results obtained from the system are discussed in Parikh et al. (1988) and in Fischer et al. (1990, 1994). Several applications of the BLS to climate change impact analysis have been published, e.g., in Rosenzweig and Parry (1994), Fischer et al. (1996), Parry et al. (1999, 2004), Fischer et al (2002, 2005). (See references.)

The BLS is made up of 34 national and/or regional geographical components. The individual models are linked by means of a world market, i.e., an international linkage mechanism. The model is formulated as a recursively dynamic system, working in annual steps, the outcome of each step being affected by the outcomes of earlier ones. Each individual model covers the whole economy of the respective geographical area. For the purpose of international linkage, production, consumption, and trade are aggregated to nine agricultural sectors and one non-agricultural sector. All physical and financial accounts are balanced and mutually consistent: the production, consumption, and financial ones at the national level, and the trade and financial flows at the global level.

Links

• The World Food System Model (Basic Linked System)
• What is the BLS?
• How does the World Food System model work?
• Geographical representation in the World Food System model
• BLS references

Responsible for this page: Elisabeth Kawczynski
Last updated: 16 Oct 2009