Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 08/2008

Food Price Inflation: Explanation and Policy Implications

Karen H. Johnson

July 2008

Council on Foreign Relations

Abstract

Increases in the prices for major food crops that are traded globally have reached extraordinary levels, sparking riots in some countries and becoming the focus of widespread debate and policy concern. At the June 2008 summit meeting of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome, officials from around the world engaged in discussions of who or what is to blame.

In this Center for Geoeconomic Studies Working Paper, Karen H. Johnson explains the causes and likely future course of food-price inflation, and analyzes the implications for central banks, trade negotiators, and agricultural policy.