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Revisiting the Global Food Architecture: Lessons from the 2008 Food Crisis

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  • Luc Christiaensen

Abstract

The 2008 episode of food price explosion, political turmoil, and human suffering revealed important flaws in the current global food architecture. This paper argues that to safeguard the strengths of the current system, four failures in market functioning and policymaking must be addressed. First, governments must reinvest in agriculture with a focus on public goods and subject to increased public accountability to re-ensure the global food supply. Second, the policy-induced link between food and fuel prices must be broken through a revision of EU and US agro-fuel policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Luc Christiaensen, 2009. "Revisiting the Global Food Architecture: Lessons from the 2008 Food Crisis," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2009-04, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:dp2009-04
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    Cited by:

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    2. Fang Min, 2019. "An Analysis on the Influencing Factors of the World Food Price," Applied Finance and Accounting, Redfame publishing, vol. 5(2), pages 35-41, August.
    3. Blake, Daniella & Dawson, Carolina & Loeillet, Denis & Staver, Charles, 2018. "Can Global Climate Change affect Prices in the World Banana Market?," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 67(1), March.
    4. Onoja, Anthony O. & Ajie, E.N., 2012. "Econometric Analysis of Food Crops’ Response to Climate Variability and Macroeconomic Policies’ Reforms in Nigeria (1978-2009)," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society (AESS), vol. 2(03), pages 1-11, September.
    5. Christopher L. Gilbert & Simone Pfuderer, 2014. "The financialization of food commodity markets," Chapters, in: Raghbendra Jha & Raghav Gaiha & Anil B. Deolalikar (ed.), Handbook on Food, chapter 6, pages 122-148, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Aled Jones & Bradley Hiller, 2017. "Exploring the Dynamics of Responses to Food Production Shocks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-12, June.
    7. Ojogho, Osaihiomwan & Egware, Robert Awotu, 2015. "Price Generating Process And Volatility In Nigerian Agricultural Commodities Market," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 3(4), pages 1-10, October.
    8. Tony Addison & Channing Arndt & Finn Tarp, 2011. "The Triple Crisis and the Global Aid Architecture," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 23(4), pages 461-478.
    9. Wouter Zant, 2014. "Do Organic Inputs in African Subsistence Agriculture Raise Productivity? Evidence from Plot Data of Malawi Household Surveys," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 14-114/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Anja Vinzelberg & Benjamin R. Auer, 2022. "Unprofitability of food market investments," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(7), pages 2887-2910, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agriculture; Agriculture and state; Food security; Food supply; Prices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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