The Impact of Rising Food Prices on the Poor

This paper analyzes the household level impact of an increase in price of major tradable staple foods in a cross section of developing countries, using nationally representative household surveys. We find that, in the short term, poorer households and households with limited asset endowments and access to agricultural inputs will be hit the hardest by the price shock. Given the ample degree of heterogeneity among households and among the poor, the analysis emphasizes the importance of meaningful policy research to go beyond average impacts to look at how access to assets and inputs, livelihood strategies and other key household characteristics drive the magnitude and distribution of the effects of the price increases.