AbstractThe “demand deficiency” hypothesis, which has been used to explain the post‐1945 “export lag” of agricultural produce from non‐industrial areas, is irrelevant to the “export lag” of foodstuffs from overpopulated countries. South Korean experiences strongly suggest that a relatively high marginal propensity to consume food, combined with a relatively high price inelasticity of demand for food, makes the income redistribution consequent upon modernization a forceful factor in determining the export pattern of an underdeveloped country. Misleading export projections of foodstuffs during early stages of economic development result if income distribution effects are not taken into account.