Erlich vs. Simon

So why didn't the world starve to death in the 1960's and 70's,
the way Paul Erlich predicted (and, like a green Jeanne Dixon, just keeps on predicting)?

Here's a nice reminder of the guy who won a Nobel Prize for being a prime mover.

(Extra credit: Remember when the Nobel Peace Prize wasn't simply an embarrassment?)

"Capitalism and markets" is a correct answer, but a profoundly anti-capitalist one, using only theory-of-the-world handwaving -- like answering the question "How did the US reach the moon?" with "Newtonian physics." The proximate cause was smart people with achievable dreams who worked hard to make them come true.