IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fsc/fspubl/33.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Cost-benefit framework for policy action to navigate food price spikes. FOODSECURE Working Paper No 33

Author

Listed:
  • Matthias Kalkuhl
  • Mekbib Haile
  • Lukas Kornher
  • Marta Kozicka

Abstract

This paper develops a cost-benefit framework for evaluating the impacts of price spikes and price volatility in food commodities ranging from allocative, political-economy and health to human welfare effects. After reviewing the research on impacts of price spikes and volatility, several policies to reduce volatility or its adverse impacts are classified and evaluated. The evaluation of policies is visualized according to different criteria that allow assessment of strengths and weaknesses of several policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Kalkuhl & Mekbib Haile & Lukas Kornher & Marta Kozicka, 2015. "Cost-benefit framework for policy action to navigate food price spikes. FOODSECURE Working Paper No 33," FOODSECURE Working papers 33, LEI Wageningen UR.
    • Handle: RePEc:fsc:fspubl:33
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www3.lei.wur.nl/FoodSecurePublications/33_Kalkuhl_et_al.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dawe, David, 2001. "How far down the path to free trade? The importance of rice price stabilization in developing Asia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 163-175, April.
    2. Alfons Oude Lansink, 1999. "Area Allocation Under Price Uncertainty on Dutch Arable Farms," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 93-105, January.
    3. David S. Jacks & Kevin H. O'Rourke & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2011. "Commodity Price Volatility and World Market Integration since 1700," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 800-813, August.
    4. Kalkuhl, Matthias & Edenhofer, Ottmar & Lessmann, Kai, 2013. "Renewable energy subsidies: Second-best policy or fatal aberration for mitigation?," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 217-234.
    5. Brian D. Wright, 2012. "International Grain Reserves And Other Instruments to Address Volatility in Grain Markets," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 27(2), pages 222-260, August.
    6. Algieri, Bernardina, 2014. "The influence of biofuels, economic and financial factors on daily returns of commodity futures prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 227-247.
    7. Kornher, Lukas & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2013. "Food Price Volatility in Developing Countries and its Determinants," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 52(4), pages 1-32, November.
    8. Hidrobo, Melissa & Hoddinott, John & Peterman, Amber & Margolies, Amy & Moreira, Vanessa, 2014. "Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 144-156.
    9. Summers, L.H. & Summers, V.P., 1989. "When Financial Markets Work Too Well : A Cautious Case For A Securities Transactions Tax," Papers t12, Columbia - Center for Futures Markets.
    10. Acemoglu, Daron & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 1997. "Was Prometheus Unbound by Chance? Risk, Diversification, and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(4), pages 709-751, August.
    11. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-89 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Christopher Gilbert & Wyn Morgan, 2010. "Has food price volatility risen?," Department of Economics Working Papers 1002, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    13. Koester, Ulrich, 1986. "Regional cooperation to improve food security in southern and eastern African countries:," Research reports 53, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. 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.
    15. Maros Ivanic & Will Martin, 2008. "Implications of higher global food prices for poverty in low‐income countries1," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(s1), pages 405-416, November.
    16. Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2014. "How Strong Do Global Commodity Prices Influence Domestic Food Prices in Developing Countries? A Global Price Transmission and Vulnerability Mapping Analysis," Discussion Papers 168591, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    17. Porteous, Obie, 2017. "Empirical effects of short-term export bans: The case of African maize," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 17-26.
    18. Ramey, Garey & Ramey, Valerie A, 1995. "Cross-Country Evidence on the Link between Volatility and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1138-1151, December.
    19. Pravakar Sahoo, 2008. "Impact of Proposed Commodity Transaction Tax," Working Papers id:1593, eSocialSciences.
    20. Grosche, Stephanie & Heckelei, Thomas, 2014. "Price dynamics and financialization effects in corn futures markets with heterogeneous traders," Discussion Papers 172077, University of Bonn, Institute for Food and Resource Economics.
    21. Nicole M. Mason & Robert J. Myers, 2013. "The effects of the Food Reserve Agency on maize market prices in Zambia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(2), pages 203-216, March.
    22. Vu, Linh & Glewwe, Paul, 2011. "Impacts of Rising Food Prices on Poverty and Welfare in Vietnam," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-14, April.
    23. Manuel A. Hernandez & Raul Ibarra & Danilo R. Trupkin, 2014. "How far do shocks move across borders? Examining volatility transmission in major agricultural futures markets," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 41(2), pages 301-325.
    24. Arndt, Channing & Østerdal, Lars Peter & Hussain, M. Azhar, 2012. "Effects of Food Price Shocks on Child Malnutrition," WIDER Working Paper Series 089, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    25. Christophe Gouel, 2014. "Food Price Volatility and Domestic Stabilization Policies in Developing Countries," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Food Price Volatility, pages 261-306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. 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.
    27. David N. Well, 2007. "Accounting for the Effect Of Health on Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1265-1306.
    28. Toke S. Aidt & Gabriel Leon, 2014. "The Democratic Window of Opportunity: Evidence from Riots in sub-Saharan Africa," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1417, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    29. Wang, Xiaojun & Taniguchi, Kiyoshi, 2002. "Does better nutrition cause economic growth? The efficiency cost of hunger revisited," ESA Working Papers 289103, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    30. Israel Finkelshtain & James A. Chalfant, 1997. "Commodity Price Stabilization in a Peasant Economy," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(4), pages 1208-1217.
    31. Badi Baltagi & Dong Li & Qi Li, 2006. "Transaction tax and stock market behavior: evidence from an emerging market," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 393-408, June.
    32. Fogel, Robert W, 1994. "Economic Growth, Population Theory, and Physiology: The Bearing of Long-Term Processes on the Making of Economic Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 369-395, June.
    33. Anderson, Kym & Nelgen, Signe, 2012. "Trade Barrier Volatility and Agricultural Price Stabilization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 36-48.
    34. Christopher L. Gilbert, 2010. "Speculative Influences On Commodity Futures Prices 2006-2008," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 197, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    35. Salant, Stephen W, 1983. "The Vulnerability of Price Stabilization Schemes to Speculative Attack," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(1), pages 1-38, February.
    36. Philip Abbott, 2014. "Biofuels, Binding Constraints, and Agricultural Commodity Price Volatility," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Food Price Volatility, pages 91-131, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    37. Markus Brückner & Antonio Ciccone, 2011. "Rain and the Democratic Window of Opportunity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 923-947, May.
    38. Teresa Serra & José M. Gil, 2013. "Price volatility in food markets: can stock building mitigate price fluctuations?," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 40(3), pages 507-528, July.
    39. Norman V. Loayza & Romain Rancière & Luis Servén & Jaume Ventura, 2007. "Macroeconomic Volatility and Welfare in Developing Countries: An Introduction," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 21(3), pages 343-357, October.
    40. Headey, Derek, 2011. "Rethinking the global food crisis: The role of trade shocks," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 136-146, April.
    41. Anna D'Souza & Dean Jolliffe, 2014. "Food Insecurity in Vulnerable Populations: Coping with Food Price Shocks in Afghanistan," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(3), pages 790-812.
    42. Timmer, C. Peter, 2000. "The macro dimensions of food security: economic growth, equitable distribution, and food price stability," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 283-295, June.
    43. Klaus Abbink & Thomas Jayne & Lars Moller, 2011. "The Relevance of a Rules-based Maize Marketing Policy: An Experimental Case Study of Zambia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 207-230.
    44. Pindyck, Robert S, 1988. "Irreversible Investment, Capacity Choice, and the Value of the Firm," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 969-985, December.
    45. Janet Currie & Firouz Gahvari, 2008. "Transfers in Cash and In-Kind: Theory Meets the Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 333-383, June.
    46. Serra, Teresa, 2011. "Volatility spillovers between food and energy markets: A semiparametric approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1155-1164.
    47. Chavas, Jean-Paul, 2000. "The microeconomics of food security," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 44(1), pages 1-29.
    48. Hirshleifer,Jack, 2001. "The Dark Side of the Force," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521804127.
    49. Marc F. Bellemare & Christopher B. Barrett & David R. Just, 2013. "The Welfare Impacts of Commodity Price Volatility: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(4), pages 877-899.
    50. Raghbendra Jha & Raghav Gaiha & Anil B. Deolalikar (ed.), 2014. "Handbook on Food," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14879.
    51. Gouel, Christophe, 2013. "Optimal food price stabilisation policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 118-134.
    52. Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2014. "How Strong Do Global Commodity Prices Influence Domestic Food Prices? A Global Price Transmission Analysis," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 169798, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    53. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2004. "Greed and grievance in civil war," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 563-595, October.
    54. Myers, Robert J., 2006. "On the costs of food price fluctuations in low-income countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 288-301, August.
    55. Sabates-Wheeler, Rachel & Devereux, Stephen, 2010. "Cash transfers and high food prices: Explaining outcomes on Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 274-285, August.
    56. Mekbib G. Haile & Matthias Kalkuhl & Joachim Braun, 2014. "Inter- and intra-seasonal crop acreage response to international food prices and implications of volatility," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(6), pages 693-710, November.
    57. Brockhaus, Jan & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2014. "Can the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) help to reduce food price volatility?," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170391, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    58. Carlos Martins-Filho & Feng Yao & Maximo Torero, 2015. "High-Order Conditional Quantile Estimation Based on Nonparametric Models of Regression," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(6-10), pages 907-958, December.
    59. Gustafson, Robert L., 1958. "Carryover levels for grains: A method for determining amounts that are optimal under specified conditions," Technical Bulletins 157231, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    60. Hernandez, Manuel & Torero, Maximo, 2010. "Examining the dynamic relationship between spot and future prices of agricultural commodities," IFPRI discussion papers 988, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    61. Andy McKay & Finn Tarp, 2014. "Distributional Impacts of the 2008 Global Food Price Spike in Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-030, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    62. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    63. Jere R. Behrman & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2004. "Returns to Birthweight," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 586-601, May.
    64. Ivanic, Maros & Martin, Will, 2008. "Implications of higher global food prices for poverty in low-income countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4594, The World Bank.
    65. Luis Miguel Robles & Maximo Torero, 2010. "Understanding the Impact of High Food Prices in Latin America," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 117-164, January.
    66. McKay, Andy & Tarp, Finn, 2014. "Distributional impacts of the 2008 global food price spike in Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series 030, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    67. Barry T. Coyle, 1999. "Risk Aversion and Yield Uncertainty in Duality Models of Production: A Mean-Variance Approach," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(3), pages 553-567.
    68. Stiglitz, J.E., 1989. "Using Tax Policy To Curb Speculative Short-Term Trading," Papers t2, Columbia - Center for Futures Markets.
    69. Turnovsky, Stephen J & Shalit, Haim & Schmitz, Andrew, 1980. "Consumer's Surplus, Price Instability, and Consumer Welfare," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 135-152, January.
    70. Mu, Xiaoyi, 2007. "Weather, storage, and natural gas price dynamics: Fundamentals and volatility," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 46-63, January.
    71. L. Jay Helms, 1985. "Errors in the Numerical Assessment of the Benefits of Price Stabilization," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 67(1), pages 93-100.
    72. Byerlee, Derek & Jayne, T.S. & Myers, Robert J., 2006. "Managing food price risks and instability in a liberalizing market environment: Overview and policy options," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 275-287, August.
    73. David Atkin, 2012. "Habit Formation and the Gains from Price Stability," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 58(2), pages 373-384, June.
    74. Pravakar Sahoo & Rajiv Kumar, 2008. "Impact Of Proposed Commodity Transaction Tax On Futures Trading In India," Finance Working Papers 22239, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    75. Hanan G. Jacoby, 1997. "Self-Selection and the Redistributive Impact of In-Kind Transfers: An Econometric Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(2), pages 223-249.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wossen, Tesfamicheal & Berger, Thomas & Haile, Mekbib G. & Troost, Christian, 2018. "Impacts of climate variability and food price volatility on household income and food security of farm households in East and West Africa," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 7-15.
    2. Mekbib G. Haile & Tesfamicheal Wossen & Kindie Tesfaye & Joachim von Braun, 2017. "Impact of Climate Change, Weather Extremes, and Price Risk on Global Food Supply," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 55-75, June.
    3. Lukas Kornher & Matthias Kalkuhl, 2015. "A Typology for Price-related Food and Nutrition Risks and Policy Responses," FOODSECURE Technical papers 5, LEI Wageningen UR.

    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. Kalkuhl, Matthias & von Braun, Joachim & Torero, Maximo, 2016. "Food Price Volatility and Its Implications for Food Security and Policy," MPRA Paper 72164, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Matthias Kalkuhl & Lukas Kornher & Marta Kozicka & Pierre Boulanger & Maximo Torero, 2013. "Conceptual framework on price volatility and its impact on food and nutrition security in the short term," FOODSECURE Working papers 15, LEI Wageningen UR.
    3. Dick Durevall & Roy Weide, 2017. "Importing High Food Prices by Exporting: Rice Prices in Lao PDR," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(1), pages 164-181, February.
    4. Matthias Kalkuhl & Lukas Kornher & Matthias Kalkuhl & Irfan Mujahid, 2015. "Food price volatility in developing countries – the role of trade and storage," EcoMod2015 8415, EcoMod.
    5. Christophe Gouel, 2013. "Rules versus Discretion in Food Storage Policies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1029-1044.
    6. Christophe Gouel, 2014. "Food Price Volatility and Domestic Stabilization Policies in Developing Countries," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Food Price Volatility, pages 261-306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Durevall, Dick & van der Weide, Roy, 2014. "Importing High Food Prices by Exporting: Rice Prices in Lao PDR," Working Papers in Economics 607, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    8. Pieters, Hannah & Swinnen, Johan, 2016. "Trading-off volatility and distortions? Food policy during price spikes," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 27-39.
    9. Jonathan Brooks & Alan Matthews, 2015. "Trade Dimensions of Food Security," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 77, OECD Publishing.
    10. Bradford, Scott C. & Negi, Digvijay Singh & Ramaswami, Bharat, 2022. "International risk sharing for food staples," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Christian Elleby, 2014. "Poverty and Price Transmission," IFRO Working Paper 2015/01, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    12. Vasilii Erokhin & Tianming Gao, 2020. "Impacts of COVID-19 on Trade and Economic Aspects of Food Security: Evidence from 45 Developing Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-28, August.
    13. Kornher, Lukas & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2013. "Food Price Volatility in Developing Countries and its Determinants," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 52(4), pages 1-32, November.
    14. Sanjay Sehgal & Tarunika Jain Agrawal, 2019. "Impact of Commodity Transaction Tax on Market Liquidity, Volatility, and Government Revenues: An Empirical Study for India," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 44(1), pages 12-29, March.
    15. Donald F. Larson & Julian Lampietti & Christophe Gouel & Carlo Cafiero & John Roberts, 2014. "Food Security and Storage in the Middle East and North Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 48-73.
    16. Martin, William J., 2012. "Managing High and Volatile Food Prices," Trade Issues Papers 142732, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    17. Pierre-Emmanuel Darpeix, 2019. "Literature review on the consequences of food price spikes and price volatility," Working Papers hal-02072329, HAL.
    18. Jean-Christophe Bureau & Thorsten Rogall, 2017. "EU Policies and Global Food Security," LICOS Discussion Papers 39217, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    19. Fabio Gaetano Santeramo & Emilia Lamonaca, 2019. "On the drivers of global grain price volatility: an empirical investigation," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 65(1), pages 31-42.
    20. Kym Anderson & Signe Nelgen, 2012. "Agricultural trade distortions during the global financial crisis," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 28(2), pages 235-260, SUMMER.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E64 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Incomes Policy; Price Policy
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fsc:fspubl:33. 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: Barbara van der Hout (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ledlonl.html .

    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.