Addressing the Global Food Crisis:
Causes, Implications, and Policy Options
Abstract: This paper considers some of the recent trends in global food prices and their possible links to financial speculation, as well as the policy measures required to contain speculation. Recent trends in the price movements of major food commodities in international trade are briefly described, followed by a consideration of the financial deregulation in the USA in 2000 that enabled greater involvement of financial agents in commodity futures markets, as well as of the pattern and implications of such involvement in the period after 2006. Finally, there is a discussion of some of the current moves for regulation in this area, as well as other proposals and strategies for ensuring greater stability in global food markets.