We use two approaches to examine the macroeconomic consequences of disruptions in global food commodity markets. First, we embed a novel quarterly composite global production index for the four basic staples (corn, wheat, rice and soybeans) in a standard vector autoregression (VAR) model, and we...

How to understand the twenty-first century food crisisSince 2007, farm-product prices have gone crazy, causing hunger, malnutrition, and social and political upheaval around the world. Endless Appetites explores how "food security," the availability of food and the reasonable ability to buy it,...

Biofuel policies are frequently mentioned in the policy and academic debates because of their potential impact on food prices. In 2005, the United States authorities passed legislation under which corn-based ethanol became in practice the only available gasoline additive. Some studies have then...