Gregory Clark, chair of the UC Davis Department of Economics, is taking part in a week-long “Dust-up” feature on the Los Angeles Times website. He’s debating economics, scarcity and wealth with Gary Gardner of the Worldwatch Institute.

Yesterday, Gardner and Clark disagreed other whether we are entering an era of “global scarcity.” Clark argues that prophets of resource doom have always turned out to be wrong thanks to advances in technology.

Today, the disagree on the impact of the current rise in food prices. High food prices are a catastrophe for poor countries but only a minor inconvenience for Americans, who spend only a small fraction of their incomes on food, Clark says. They actually agree that higher food prices may be desirable in reducing demand and overconsumption.

Follow the whole series here.

Clark is the author of “A Farewell to Alms,” a new look at how the West got rich. The book has created quite a stir, putting Clark in an unexpected spotlight.

He also opined last year in the Sacramento Bee that we could live quite happily with oil at $100 or even $500 a barrel. Which might be just as well.