During 1974-1987, research converged on the idea that population structure and entitlement regimes shape inequality as much as scarcity. The entitlement framework reframes famine and deprivation as failures of access to resources, while demographic scale—birth cohort size and subgroup composition—modulates household welfare and macro outcomes. A methodological advance emerged in decomposition by population subgroups, enabling precise attribution of drivers by size, mean, and subgroup variation, thereby bridging demography, nutrition, and development economics.