IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v152y2025ics0264999325002676.html

Climate policy uncertainty, geopolitical risk, oil volatility, and global food price volatility: A time-varying analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Eissa, Mohamed Abdelaziz
  • Al Refai, Hisham
  • Chortareas, Georgios

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of climate policy uncertainty (CPU), geopolitical risk (GPR), economic policy uncertainty (EPU), and oil volatility (OVX) on global food price volatility (VFPI), addressing gaps in the literature on dynamic and multi-source uncertainty effects. Prior research has explored individual determinants of food price fluctuations, but few studies integrate multiple uncertainty indices in a time-varying framework. Using monthly data from June 2007 to August 2023, we apply a Time-Varying Coefficient Vector Autoregression (TVC-VAR) and Markov Switching VAR (MS-VAR) model to assess how these shocks propagate over time. Our results show that CPU has become an increasingly influential driver of food price volatility, especially post-2015, while GPR and OVX exert strong short-run effects. EPU displays a stabilizing influence, particularly during crises. These findings reveal evolving transmission mechanisms of uncertainty into food markets and highlight the need for adaptive, coordinated policy frameworks to safeguard global food security in an era of rising climate and geopolitical risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Eissa, Mohamed Abdelaziz & Al Refai, Hisham & Chortareas, Georgios, 2025. "Climate policy uncertainty, geopolitical risk, oil volatility, and global food price volatility: A time-varying analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:152:y:2025:i:c:s0264999325002676
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2025.107272
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999325002676
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2025.107272?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dario Caldara & Matteo Iacoviello, 2022. "Measuring Geopolitical Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1194-1225, April.
    2. Santeramo, Fabio Gaetano & Bozzola, Martina & Lamonaca, Emilia, 2020. "Impacts of Climate Change on Global Agri-Food Trade," 2019: Recent Advances in Applied General Equilibrium Modeling: Relevance and Application to Agricultural Trade Analysis, December 8-10, 2019, Washington, DC 339375, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    3. Hu, Xin & Zhu, Bo & Zhang, Bokai & Zhou, Sitong, 2024. "Do internal and external risk spillovers of the food system matter for national food security?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    4. Adämmer, Philipp & Bohl, Martin T., 2015. "Speculative bubbles in agricultural prices," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 67-76.
    5. Shawkat Hammoudeh & Sang Hoon Kang & Walid Mensi & Duc Khuong Nguyen, 2016. "Dynamic Global Linkages of the BRICS Stock Markets with the United States and Europe Under External Crisis Shocks: Implications for Portfolio Risk Forecasting," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(11), pages 1703-1727, November.
    6. Marshall Burke & Solomon M. Hsiang & Edward Miguel, 2015. "Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production," Nature, Nature, vol. 527(7577), pages 235-239, November.
    7. Dreger, Christian & Kholodilin, Konstantin A. & Ulbricht, Dirk & Fidrmuc, Jarko, 2016. "Between the hammer and the anvil: The impact of economic sanctions and oil prices on Russia’s ruble," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 295-308.
    8. Christopher Gilbert & Wyn Morgan, 2010. "Has food price volatility risen?," Department of Economics Working Papers 1002, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    9. Wang, Kai-Hua & Kan, Jia-Min & Qiu, Lianhong & Xu, Shulin, 2023. "Climate policy uncertainty, oil price and agricultural commodity: From quantile and time perspective," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 256-272.
    10. Will Martin & Kym Anderson, 2012. "Export Restrictions and Price Insulation During Commodity Price Booms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(2), pages 422-427.
    11. Lubos Pástor & Pietro Veronesi, 2012. "Uncertainty about Government Policy and Stock Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1219-1264, August.
    12. Fan, Shenggen & Headey, Derek, 2010. "Reflections on the global food crisis: How did it happen? How has it hurt? And how can we prevent the next one?," Research reports 165, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Drechsel, Thomas & Tenreyro, Silvana, 2018. "Commodity booms and busts in emerging economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 200-218.
    14. Kyle Handley & Nuno Limão, 2018. "Policy Uncertainty, Trade, and Welfare: Theory and Evidence for China and the United States," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Policy Externalities and International Trade Agreements, chapter 5, pages 123-175, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    15. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    16. Baffes, John & Dennis, Allen, 2013. "Long-term drivers of food prices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6455, The World Bank.
    17. Umar Farooq & Mosab I. Tabash & Suhaib Anagreh & Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate investment: Does quality of governance matter?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2157118-215, December.
    18. Atanu Ghoshray, 2011. "Underlying Trends and International Price Transmission of Agricultural Commodities," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 257, Asian Development Bank.
    19. Arezki, Rabah & Brueckner, Markus, 2014. "Effects of International Food Price Shocks on Political Institutions in Low-Income Countries: Evidence from an International Food Net-Export Price Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 142-153.
    20. Jiang, Yonghong & Ao, Zhiming & Mo, Bin, 2023. "The risk spillover between China’s economic policy uncertainty and commodity markets: Evidence from frequency spillover and quantile connectedness approaches," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    21. repec:aen:journl:2009v30-02-a09 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Du, Xiaodong & Hayes, Dermot J., 2009. "The impact of ethanol production on US and regional gasoline markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3227-3234, August.
    23. Marco Del Negro & Giorgio E. Primiceri, 2015. "Time Varying Structural Vector Autoregressions and Monetary Policy: A Corrigendum," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 82(4), pages 1342-1345.
    24. Hu, Guoheng & Liu, Shan & Wu, Guo & Hu, Peng & Li, Ruiqi & Chen, Liujie, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty, geopolitical risks, and the heterogeneity of commodity price fluctuations in China ——an empirical study based on TVP-SV-VAR model," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    25. Timothy Cogley & Giorgio E. Primiceri & Thomas J. Sargent, 2010. "Inflation-Gap Persistence in the US," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 43-69, January.
    26. Holtemöller, Oliver & Mallick, Sushanta, 2016. "Global food prices and monetary policy in an emerging market economy: The case of India," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 56-70.
    27. Derek Headey & Shenggen Fan, 2008. "Anatomy of a crisis: the causes and consequences of surging food prices," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(s1), pages 375-391, November.
    28. Mitchell, Donald, 2008. "A note on rising food prices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4682, The World Bank.
    29. Pradhan, Basanta K. & Ghosh, Joydeep, 2019. "Climate policy vs. agricultural productivity shocks in a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling framework: The case of a developing economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 55-69.
    30. Nakajima, Jouchi & Kasuya, Munehisa & Watanabe, Toshiaki, 2011. "Bayesian analysis of time-varying parameter vector autoregressive model for the Japanese economy and monetary policy," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 225-245, September.
    31. Escalante, Luis Enrique & Maisonnave, Helene, 2022. "Impacts of climate disasters on women and food security in Bolivia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    32. Helmut Lütkepohl, 2013. "Vector autoregressive models," Chapters, in: Nigar Hashimzade & Michael A. Thornton (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Macroeconomics, chapter 6, pages 139-164, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    33. James D. Hamilton, 2009. "Understanding Crude Oil Prices," The Energy Journal, , vol. 30(2), pages 179-206, April.
    34. Philip Abbott & Adeline Borot de Battisti, 2011. "Recent Global Food Price Shocks: Causes, Consequences and Lessons for African Governments and Donors-super- †," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 20(suppl_1), pages -62, May.
    35. Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone, 2007. "The Economic Impacts of Climate Change: Evidence from Agricultural Output and Random Fluctuations in Weather," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 354-385, March.
    36. Lutz Kilian, 2009. "Not All Oil Price Shocks Are Alike: Disentangling Demand and Supply Shocks in the Crude Oil Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 1053-1069, June.
    37. Gong, Xu & Xu, Jun, 2022. "Geopolitical risk and dynamic connectedness between commodity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    38. Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Kang, Sang Hoon & Mensi, Walid & Nguyen, Duc Khuong, 2014. "Dynamic global linkages of the BRICS stock markets with the U.S. and Europe under external crisis shocks: Implications for portfolio risk forecasting," MPRA Paper 73400, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Mar 2016.
    39. Headey, Derek, 2011. "Rethinking the global food crisis: The role of trade shocks," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 136-146, April.
    40. Jebabli, Ikram & Roubaud, David, 2018. "Time-varying efficiency in food and energy markets: Evidence and implications," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 97-114.
    41. Aragie, E. & Balié, J. & Morales, C. & Pauw, K., 2023. "Synergies and trade-offs between agricultural export promotion and food security: Evidence from African economies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    42. Marc F. Bellemare, 2015. "Rising Food Prices, Food Price Volatility, and Social Unrest," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(1), pages 1-21.
    43. Roberto Esposti & Giulia Listorti, 2013. "Agricultural price transmission across space and commodities during price bubbles," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(1), pages 125-139, January.
    44. Robert Finger, 2023. "Digital innovations for sustainable and resilient agricultural systems," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 50(4), pages 1277-1309.
    45. Cheng, Sheng & Cao, Yan, 2019. "On the relation between global food and crude oil prices: An empirical investigation in a nonlinear framework," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 422-432.
    46. Nazlioglu, Saban & Soytas, Ugur, 2012. "Oil price, agricultural commodity prices, and the dollar: A panel cointegration and causality analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 1098-1104.
    47. Pal, Debdatta & Mitra, Subrata K., 2019. "Correlation dynamics of crude oil with agricultural commodities: A comparison between energy and food crops," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 453-466.
    48. Burke, Marshall & Hsiang, Solomon M & Miguel, Edward, 2015. "Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt3g72r0zv, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    49. Nigel Driffield & Michail Karoglou, 2019. "Brexit and foreign investment in the UK," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 182(2), pages 559-582, February.
    50. Sharma, Chandan & Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy, 2021. "Does economic policy uncertainty dampen imports? Commodity-level evidence from India," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 139-149.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qiang Liu & Chen Xu & Zhenwei Xu, 2025. "The impact of geopolitical risk on food prices: evidence from the TVP-SV-VAR model," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 49(2), pages 450-473, June.
    2. Li, Houjian & Li, Yanjiao & Guo, Lili, 2023. "Extreme risk spillover effect and dynamic linkages between uncertainty and commodity markets: A comparison between China and America," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    3. Gilles Dufrénot & William Ginn & Marc Pourroy, 2023. "ENSO Climate Patterns on Global Economic Conditions," AMSE Working Papers 2308, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    4. Zhu, Bo & Lin, Renda & Deng, Yuanyue & Chen, Pingshe & Chevallier, Julien, 2021. "Intersectoral systemic risk spillovers between energy and agriculture under the financial and COVID-19 crises," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    5. Yang, Cai & Zhang, Hongwei & Qin, Yun & Niu, Zibo, 2024. "Partisan conflict, trade policy uncertainty, and the energy market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    6. Assaf, Ata & Charif, Husni & Mokni, Khaled, 2021. "Dynamic connectedness between uncertainty and energy markets: Do investor sentiments matter?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Nonejad, Nima, 2021. "Predicting the return on the spot price of crude oil out-of-sample by conditioning on news-based uncertainty measures: Some new empirical results," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    8. Guo, Jiaqi & Long, Shaobo & Luo, Weijie, 2022. "Nonlinear effects of climate policy uncertainty and financial speculation on the global prices of oil and gas," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    9. Hu, Zinan & Borjigin, Sumuya, 2024. "The amplifying role of geopolitical Risks, economic policy Uncertainty, and climate risks on Energy-Stock market volatility spillover across economic cycles," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Szafranek, Karol & Rubaszek, Michał & Uddin, Gazi Salah, 2024. "The role of uncertainty and sentiment for intraday volatility connectedness between oil and financial markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    11. Wang, Yonglian & Wang, Lijun & Pan, Changchun & Hong, Songzhi, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and price pass-through effect of exchange rate in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    12. Zheng, Deyuan & Zhao, Chunguang & Hu, Jiaying, 2023. "Impact of geopolitical risk on the volatility of natural resource commodity futures prices in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Yifei Cai & Angeliki Menegaki, 2021. "FDI, growth and trade partisan conflict in the US: TVP-BVAR approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1335-1362, March.
    14. David Matesanz & Benno Torgler & Germán Dabat & Guillermo J. Ortega, 2014. "Co-movements in commodity prices: a note based on network analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 13-21, November.
    15. Aled W. Jones & Alexander Phillips, 2016. "Historic Food Production Shocks: Quantifying the Extremes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-10, April.
    16. Anania, Giovanni, 2013. "Agricultural Export Restrictions and the WTO: What Options Do Policy-Makers Have For Promoting Food Security?," Price Volatility and Beyond 320191, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).
    17. Zhang, Zhikai & Wang, Yudong & Xiao, Jihong & Zhang, Yaojie, 2023. "Not all geopolitical shocks are alike: Identifying price dynamics in the crude oil market under tensions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Lin, Boqiang & Bai, Rui, 2021. "Oil prices and economic policy uncertainty: Evidence from global, oil importers, and exporters’ perspective," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    19. Nonejad Nima, 2026. "Out-of-Sample Density Prediction of the End-of-Month Price of Crude Oil and the U.S. Economic Policy Uncertainty Index," Journal of Time Series Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-47.
    20. Cao, Yan & Cheng, Sheng & Li, Xinran, 2024. "Co-movements between heterogeneous crude oil and food markets: Does temperature change really matter?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Q11 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • F51 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Conflicts; Negotiations; Sanctions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:152:y:2025:i:c:s0264999325002676. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.