By tapping into the global value chain one way or another, they have been able to diversify their economies and trading partners. At the same time, the more flexible business model has made them vulnerable to changes in strategies of multinational companies. A clear sign of this has been the failure in the majority of advanced industrial countries for the growth of labour compensation to keep pace with labour productivity, but the same trend is apparent in emerging markets as well. Increasing income inequality has been the flip side of this development. As detailed further in chapter 5 of this volume, the chronic food and nutrition crisis deepened at the start of the twenty-first century, as increasing and volatile food prices and, subsequently, the global recession undermined the food and nutrition security of the poor and threaten their livelihoods. The food security crisis was mainly the consequence of neglect of investment in agriculture in developing countries and inappropriate agriculture energy subsidization policies in developed countries.