This paper examines the impact of irrigation on rural incomes, poverty and the income distribution in rural China. The relationship between irrigation and income is examined using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. A simulation approach is used to explore the impact of irrigation...

World cereal prices have been increasing substantially since 2003. Until 2008, the Asian countries examined in this paper (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam) had generally been able to contain domestic price increases by using trade policies and taking...

The present paper describes the benefits and costs, in qualitative terms, of managing food price instability in Asia in the context of promoting economic growth and poverty reduction to improve food security. The experience of Asian governments in actual practice with price stabilization is...

Beginning in 1999/2000, global stock to use ratios for the major cereal grains declined rapidly, and just before the beginnings of the world food crisis in the second half of 2006 these ratios had reached their lowest levels in more than 20 years for all of the three major grains (rice, wheat,...

International cereal prices (in US dollar terms) have been increasing since 2003, but it is domestic prices that affect food consumption and production. This paper analyzes, for seven large Asian countries, the extent to which domestic prices have increased since 2003 and presents several...

This paper shows the importance of explicitly considering marketing margins in analyses of the impact of price changes on the welfare of different segments of the population. Failure to acknowledge the implicit marketing assumptions embedded in an analysis that assumes equal percentage changes...

Following the surge in world food prices of 2007–2008, there has been a revival of short-run household welfare analysis that seeks to understand whether food price increases are beneficial or detrimental for households. For a number of reasons, including lack of data in some instances, the...

The global population is forecasted to reach 9.4 billion by 2050, with much of this increase concentrated in developing regions and cities. Ensuring adequate food and nourishment to this large population is a pressing economic, moral and even security challenge and requires research (and action)...