Food Price Policy in an Era of Market Instability: A Political Economy Analysis

Abstract

Food price volatility is a major challenge facing the global agricultural sys- tem today, most vividly illustrated during the global food crisis of 2007–9 when prices spiked for key staple commodities such as wheat, rice, maize and soybeans. Given the variety of reactions by countries experiencing food. price shocks, the crisis offered 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.