1. Food prices and how people are eating: Views from 'Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility'
- Author:
- Nick Chisholm
- Publication Date:
- 08-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- On food prices: The case studies on food prices and how people are eating in Bangladesh, Kenya, and Pakistan confirm that price changes, and the impacts of such changes on households, are far more varied in space and time than national average data reveal. In turn, national price movements can clearly diverge from global prices due to a variety of country - specific factors. The case studies also demonstrate that politics and policies have a significant impact on prices: governments can directly (for good or ill) influence the wellbeing of the poor thro ugh decisions on policy instruments such as taxation and levels of subsidies. Finally, there is some evidence that prices in rural agricultural areas are more influenced by seasonal supply and demand factors than are prices in urban areas. In principle, rural producers may benefit from higher prices, but that is not usually the case for small producers, who are still net consumers of basic food commodities.
- Topic:
- Food
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Vietnam