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Professor Tarp has four decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research and teaching. His field experience covers more than two decades of in-country work in 35 countries across Africa and the developing world more...
Food price volatility is one of the major challenges facing the global agricultural system today. This was most vividly illustrated during the global food crisis of 2007-2009 when price spikes occurred for key staple commodities such as wheat, rice, maize, and soybeans. Given the variety of reactions by governments of countries experiencing similar food price shocks, the crisis offers an excellent natural experiment for generating knowledge on responses to price volatility in particular and on the political economy of agricultural policy-making more generally. With its collaborating partners, this UNU-WIDER project consisted of case studies on 17 low- and middle-income countries that were highly affected by the 2007-2009 food crisis.
These case studies uncover which political economy factors, ranging from the constellation of different interest groups to the nature of political institutions, explain variations in policy responses across countries. These case studies are valuable for at least three target audiences.
First, they can inform international organizations and donors about which types of policy interventions can mitigate price volatility and whether they are feasible given a country’s political economy context.
Secondly, they can help national policymakers better understand the trade-offs of certain policy interventions.
Thirdly, they can generate knowledge about the agricultural policy-making process in developing countries, which remains incredibly scarce despite the importance of agriculture to these countries’ economies.
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Working Paper
Smoothing food price trends in Nigeria
– Political economy issues and policy vistas
This study reviews the political economy issues surrounding the 2008 food crisis in Nigeria; the lessons learned from management of the crisis; analyses the performance of policies aimed at stabilizing prices; and proffers policy measures for...
Working Paper
India’s political economy responses to the global food price shock of 2007–08
– Learning some lessons
India’s policy responses to the food price crisis were strong. Exports of basic staples were banned. Domestic support prices of wheat and rice were raised substantially. The urea price increases in global markets were absorbed through enhanced...
Working Paper
The political economy of food price policy
– A synthesis
This paper identifies eight political economy factors that influenced governments’ policy choices during the most recent global food price crisis. To explain the variety of responses and the policy failures, a framework is proposed that locates...
Blog
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy - An Interview with Per Pinstrup-Andersen
In this interview, Per Pinstrup-Andersen talks about the international project which has culminated in the book Food Price Policy in an Era of Market...
Research Brief
The political economy of food price policy in EgyptThe Egyptian food system has been affected by both global food markets and domestic factors. During the recent global food price crisis, an estimated 30–40 percent of the price fluctuations in the global food market were transmitted to Egypt’s food...
Research Brief
Policy processes and the global food price crisis 2007-08The recent food price crisis and the responses of the policy makers in developing countries provide an unprecedented opportunity to analyse the policy processes in these countries. Policy responses differed depending on the nature and magnitude of...
Research Brief
Food security in BangladeshGlobal food price hikes during 2007-08 resulted in a sharp rise in staple food prices in Bangladesh, which in turn led to a significant rise in the number of households falling below the poverty line. On the political front, Bangladesh was run by an...
Research Brief
The political economy of food price policy in ChinaThe global food crisis in 2007–08 raised concerns everywhere, including in China. However, despite China’s highly-integrated domestic and international markets for many agricultural commodities, the effect of the crisis in China was only moderate...
Research Brief
The impact of the 2007-08 food price crisis in BrazilThe impact of the 2007–08 food price crisis in Brazil was relatively subdued compared with what took place in many other developing countries. Because the crisis potentially undermined both social inclusion and price stability, both important...
Book
Food Price Policy in an Era of Market Instability
– A Political Economy Analysis
This book is Open Access and available here. Food price volatility is one of the major challenges facing current and future global food systems. Since 2006, global food prices have fluctuated greatly around an increasing trend and price spikes were...
Book Chapter
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy
– Key Policy-Related Lessons
Part of Book Food Price Policy in an Era of Market Instability
Book Chapter
Policy Processes and Food Price Crises
– A Framework for Analysis and Lessons from Country Studies
Part of Book Food Price Policy in an Era of Market Instability
Book Chapter
A Cacophony of Policy Responses
– Evidence from Fourteen Countries During the 2007/08 Food Price Crisis
Part of Book Food Price Policy in an Era of Market Instability
Book Chapter
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy
– An Overview
Part of Book Food Price Policy in an Era of Market Instability
Working Paper
Policy Process and Food Price Crisis
– a Framework for Analysis and Lessons from Country Studies
During the recent food crisis, developing countries responded with a wide variety of policy responses to protect their population. Understanding the policy-making process in developing countries is important to know why such policy responses are made...
Working Paper
Political Economy Synthesis
– the Food Policy Crisis
The food price crisis revealed contradictions in creating food policy. Much of the common policy response can be explained by a benevolent, unitary government. To understand the variance between countries, however, requires understanding fractured...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Pricing Policy in ChinaThe overall goal of this paper is to analyse the political economy of food price policies in China during the global food crisis. The results show that given China’s unique economic and political context and the nature of its agricultural markets...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy
– Country Case Study of Mozambique
The 2007-09 price shocks affected in particular the prices of food commodities and fuel. As a consequence, Mozambique experienced reduced exports, more expensive imports and increased food and oil prices, contributing to the stagnant poverty rates...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy
– the Case Study of India
India did not experience any food price spikes during 2007–08 when global food prices erupted. It was partly due to India’s ban on exports of wheat and common rice. But the fiscal stimulus that the government provided in 2009 in the wake of G8...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy
– the Case of Rice Prices in Vietnam
Rice is a key agricultural commodity in Vietnam, and the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector remains a major source of employment and value addition. This paper uses episodes of rice price volatility to understand how the interplay of market...
Working Paper
US Policy Contributions to Agricultural Commodity Price Fluctuations, 2006–12Since 2006, global prices and price volatility for foodgrain commodities have spiked frequently and dramatically. Such spikes have had the heaviest economic and social impact on developing nations, where agriculture accounts for a sizable portion of...
Working Paper
Food Price Volatility and EU PoliciesChanges in global food prices have affected EU producers and consumers and have triggered policy reactions through the EU’s political process. In particular, the EU and member states responded by social policies to protect their consumers, attempts...
Working Paper
International to Domestic Price Transmission in Fourteen Developing Countries During the 2007-08 Food CrisisThis paper synthesizes the evidence on price transmission from international maize, rice and wheat markets to domestic markets in fourteen developing countries during the global food crisis in 2007-08. A great variation in the price transmission...
Working Paper
Dealing with the 2007/08 Global Food Price Crisis
– the Political Economy of Food Price Policy in Malawi
The paper examines the underlying political economy motivations of the government’s policy responses to food price increases in 2007/08 focusing particularly on maize as the main staple crop. The main government policy responses to the food price...
Working Paper
A Cacophony of Policy Responses
– Evidence from Fourteen Countries During the 2007/08 Food Price Crisis
Phenomenal increases in food prices in 2007 and 2008 caused governments around the globe to panic. During the chaos which ensued, most developing countries responded to the crisis with a convoluted array of policies intended to stabilize domestic...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy
– the Case of Kenya
This paper evaluates Kenya’s food price crisis over 2002–11 using a political economy approach. Kenya’s food prices have been high and volatile relative to world food prices. Moreover, domestic food markets are highly integrated while about 30 per...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy in NigeriaThe food crisis of 2008 in Nigeria was influenced by price changes in the world market and the escalation of the price of imported fuel into Nigeria which led to sharp increases in the prices of agricultural inputs and transportation cost. The...
Working Paper
Personalistic Policy-Making in a Vibrant Democracy
– Senegal’s Fragmented Response to the 2007/08 Food price Crisis
Since independence, Senegal has been highly reliant on international markets to meet its food needs, and this tendency has only increased with rapid levels of urbanization in recent decades. Poor domestic cereal harvests prior to 2007 exacerbated...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy
– the Case of Bangladesh
Global food price hikes during 2007 and 2008 resulted in a sharp rise in staple food prices in Bangladesh. The poor and marginalized households were particularly vulnerable to such an adverse situation as their real purchasing power eroded. Several...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price
– the Case of Ethiopia
Food prices increased significantly in 2007–08 in Ethiopia due to several supply- and demand-side factors. The Ethiopian government released emergency food grain reserves, imported and distributed wheat at subsidized price, banned the export of...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy in South AfricaThis paper analyses the food price trends in South Africa during two periods of rapid food price inflation that occurred in the decade 2000–10 and unpacks the political reaction and policy responses to the food price crises in these two periods...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy
– the Case of Zambia
The global food price crisis of 2007/08 raised fears about the impacts of higher and more volatile food prices for the poor in Zambia. Like in the past, the implementation of the strategies to deal with the rising food prices, especially for the...
Working Paper
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy in EgyptThe study focuses on the period 2004–09 during which Egypt experienced food crisis. The political economy context on how the government responded to the crisis is analysed while pinpointing to what extent there was a pass-through effect from...
Working Paper
The Impact Of The 2007–08 Food Price Crisis In A Major Commodity Exporter
– Food Prices, Inflation, And Inclusion In Brazil
This paper argues that the effects of the food price crisis of 2007–08 put pressure on two variables that are of central importance to the Brazilian government: inflation and social inclusion. We describe how political institutions in Brazil in the...
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