The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
18 Feb 2011
In recent years there has been great volatility in food prices including a dramatic rise in the period June 2007- June 2008, when the global food price index nearly doubled.
The United Nations found that steep increases in food prices in 2008 led to malnourishment for 130 million additional people.
In the second half of 2010, food prices rose sharply again, nearly doubling in the case of wheat and increasing more than 60% in the case of maize. Right now in the world economy, we are back to where we were in the middle of 2008. We have food prices that are higher now than they were at the peak of the global food crisis.
Is this the result of normal supply and demand or is the problem of price increases and volatility the product of speculation?
Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Robert Polin, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts discuss the causes of the sharp food price increases, as well as recommending some public policies that will be needed to deal with the problem.
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