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The paper reviews and evaluates the global political discussions of G-8 and G-20 Member countries on food security and food price volatility since the L'Aquila Initiative in 2009. It shows that some progress was achieved with respect to better coordination of agricultural policies and stricter regulation of financial markets, especially at the 2011 Cannes Summit Meeting of the G-20. However, no agreement was reached in areas crucial for food security such as biofuel mandates or agricultural trade policies. A discretionary approach towards stabilizing food prices may, however, rather exacerbate than mitigate volatility. Regarding financial markets the respective initiatives of the US and the EU prove the willingness of the executive to control excessive speculation, but the legislative procedure has not been completed, and interest groups are working to water down the proposed provisions. In the preparations for the upcoming G-8 and G-20 Meetings no new impulses for food security are discernable. The priority lists are topped by macro-economic issues. Under these circumstances developing countries will have no choice but to forge new alliances to bring the food security issue back to the global agenda.

Many discussions following the 2007/08 food price crisis have revolved around the magnitude of the negative impacts that it may have had on food security worldwide. In South-Eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMC), food security is strongly interrelated with several key economic and political issues. Many of these countries are becoming increasingly import-dependent, particularly on cereals, which are the essential raw material for human and animal food and feed. Due to both their economic system structure and consumption, the SEMC are responsible for a third of world cereals imports, whereas they account for only 5% of the world population. Given the set of constraints and this dependence on global markets, SEMC will be probably more exposed to severe swings in agricultural commodity prices in the coming years. In this view, this study examines the dependence structure among global food grain markets and Morocco and provides flexible models for dependency and the conditional volatility GARCH. A copula-based GARCH model has been carried out to estimate the marginal distributions of Morocco and world cereals commodity price changes. The results revealed that the joint co-movement between agricultural commodity price changes around the world and in Morocco, are generally considerable and there exists asymmetric tail dependence.

Beside the mixed evidences on transmission of international food price volatility to local markets and the desirability or otherwise of reliance on stabilisation policy to cushion the effects, very little is known about the key drivers of price spikes and volatility in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper is an attempt to bridge this gap, by focusing on the patterns, drivers, and policy responses to food price spikes and volatility across in Nigeria. The study was based on 16 years panel data on average monthly prices (2001:1 - 2016:12) of major food commodities across local markets in the 36 States of Nigeria, supplemented with monthly series of relevant domestic policy variables, and international prices, among other factors. Data analysis was mainly within the framework of fixed effects models. Findings suggest that food price upsurges in an average Nigeria market is more strongly related to spikes than volatility. International factors such as crude oil price, international food prices, and global beginning stock to use of coarse grains, and domestic policy variables such as real exchange rates, monetary policy rates and narrow money are strong influencers of spikes in the price of one or more food commodities in Nigeria's local markets. Higher petrol price and food production variability may substantially advance price instability in local food markets. Government policy actions at addressing volatile food prices immediately after the 2007/2008 food crises appeared to enhance food price stability. These findings call for greater attention on management of monetary policy, including the exchange rates, ensuring stable petrol price, limiting food production instability, mitigating spill-over of price upsurges from international markets and building farmers and consumer's resilience against food price changes, among others, as important pathways to address short and medium-term food price upsurges.

Food price volatility has drawn much attention from the international community in the beginning of the 21st century, in the aftermath of the 2008 and 2010 food riots. One strand of the literature aimed at identifying the economic origins of the increased variability of prices (supply shocks, underinvestment in the agricultural sector, financial speculation and increased demand from the emerging markets), while several articles were trying to assess whether there had actually been a change in the volatility regime in the first place. Yet another strand of the literature focused on the consequences of food price shocks and volatility. This paper provides a comprehensive review of this extensive literature on the impacts of food price shocks and food commodity volatility. The consequences are assessed both in micro- and macroeconomic terms, from the consumer's and producer's sides, as well as from the theoretical and empirical points of view. If the vast majority of studies points to a detrimental impact of food price shocks on the livelihood of many in the developing world, and on potentially dire consequences on production, growth and political stability, this literature review reveals, above all, the lack of proper investigation about the consequences of food price volatility in itself. The hype around the excessive volatility of the food markets did not translate into an academic focus on the consequences of this price instability.

Food price volatility has drawn much attention from the international community in the beginning of the 21st century, in the aftermath of the 2008 and 2010 food riots. One strand of the literature aimed at identifying the economic origins of the increased variability of prices (supply shocks, underinvestment in the agricultural sector, financial speculation and increased demand from the emerging markets), while several articles were trying to assess whether there had actually been a change in the volatility regime in the first place. Yet another strand of the literature focused on the consequences of food price shocks and volatility. This paper provides a comprehensive review of this extensive literature on the impacts of food price shocks and food commodity volatility. The consequences are assessed both in micro- and macroeconomic terms, from the consumer's and producer's sides, as well as from the theoretical and empirical points of view. If the vast majority of studies points to a detrimental impact of food price shocks on the livelihood of many in the developing world, and on potentially dire consequences on production, growth and political stability, this literature review reveals, above all, the lack of proper investigation about the consequences of food price volatility in itself. The hype around the excessive volatility of the food markets did not translate into an academic focus on the consequences of this price instability.

Food price volatility has drawn much attention from the international community in the beginning of the 21st century, in the aftermath of the 2008 and 2010 food riots. One strand of the literature aimed at identifying the economic origins of the increased variability of prices (supply shocks, underinvestment in the agricultural sector, financial speculation and increased demand from the emerging markets), while several articles were trying to assess whether there had actually been a change in the volatility regime in the first place. Yet another strand of the literature focused on the consequences of food price shocks and volatility. This paper provides a comprehensive review of this extensive literature on the impacts of food price shocks and food commodity volatility. The consequences are assessed both in micro- and macroeconomic terms, from the consumer's and producer's sides, as well as from the theoretical and empirical points of view. If the vast majority of studies points to a detrimental impact of food price shocks on the livelihood of many in the developing world, and on potentially dire consequences on production, growth and political stability, this literature review reveals, above all, the lack of proper investigation about the consequences of food price volatility in itself. The hype around the excessive volatility of the food markets did not translate into an academic focus on the consequences of this price instability.

Food price volatility has drawn much attention from the international community in the beginning of the 21st century, in the aftermath of the 2008 and 2010 food riots. One strand of the literature aimed at identifying the economic origins of the increased variability of prices (supply shocks, underinvestment in the agricultural sector, financial speculation and increased demand from the emerging markets), while several articles were trying to assess whether there had actually been a change in the volatility regime in the first place. Yet another strand of the literature focused on the consequences of food price shocks and volatility. This paper provides a comprehensive review of this extensive literature on the impacts of food price shocks and food commodity volatility. The consequences are assessed both in micro- and macroeconomic terms, from the consumer's and producer's sides, as well as from the theoretical and empirical points of view. If the vast majority of studies points to a detrimental impact of food price shocks on the livelihood of many in the developing world, and on potentially dire consequences on production, growth and political stability, this literature review reveals, above all, the lack of proper investigation about the consequences of food price volatility in itself. The hype around the excessive volatility of the food markets did not translate into an academic focus on the consequences of this price instability.

Food price volatility has drawn much attention from the international community in the beginning of the 21st century, in the aftermath of the 2008 and 2010 food riots. One strand of the literature aimed at identifying the economic origins of the increased variability of prices (supply shocks, underinvestment in the agricultural sector, financial speculation and increased demand from the emerging markets), while several articles were trying to assess whether there had actually been a change in the volatility regime in the first place. Yet another strand of the literature focused on the consequences of food price shocks and volatility. This paper provides a comprehensive review of this extensive literature on the impacts of food price shocks and food commodity volatility. The consequences are assessed both in micro- and macroeconomic terms, from the consumer's and producer's sides, as well as from the theoretical and empirical points of view. If the vast majority of studies points to a detrimental impact of food price shocks on the livelihood of many in the developing world, and on potentially dire consequences on production, growth and political stability, this literature review reveals, above all, the lack of proper investigation about the consequences of food price volatility in itself. The hype around the excessive volatility of the food markets did not translate into an academic focus on the consequences of this price instability.

The 2007-08 and 2010-11 food crises, and especially their consequences on the poorest households, have led to a renewed interest for food price stabilisation. This thesis investigates three issues about food price volatility: the role of state trading enterprises for food security; the impact of information accuracy regarding natural or economic shocks on food price variations; and the consequences of increased transparency on international markets following the G20 summit of 2011. We derive public policies conclusions regarding trade policies and improvements of information systems. We also bring forward a methodological tool that is hardly applied to agricultural economics: imperfect information models. The applications presented in this thesis prove the relevance of this tool for analysing many agricultural issues. ; Les crises alimentaires de 2007-08 et 2010-11, et notamment leurs conséquences sur les ménages les plus pauvres, ont suscité un renouveau d'intérêt pour les politiques de stabilisation des prix. Cette thèse analyse trois aspects de la question de la volatilité des prix agricoles : le rôle des entreprises commerciales d'Etat pour la sécurité alimentaire ; l'effet de la qualité de l'information concernant des chocs naturels ou économiques sur les variations de prix agricoles ; et les conséquences de l'accroissement de la transparence sur les marchés internationaux engendrée entre autres par la mise en place de nouveaux systèmes d'information suite au G20 de 2011. Outre ses conclusions en termes de politiques publiques sur les politiques commerciales ou sur l'amélioration des systèmes d'information, cette thèse met en avant un outil rarement appliqué à l'économie agricole : les modèles d'information imparfaite. Les applications présentées ici prouvent la pertinence de cet outil et l'intérêt de son utilisation pour répondre à de nombreuses problématiques d'économie agricole.

The 2007-08 and 2010-11 food crises, and especially their consequences on the poorest households, have led to a renewed interest for food price stabilisation. This thesis investigates three issues about food price volatility: the role of state trading enterprises for food security; the impact of information accuracy regarding natural or economic shocks on food price variations; and the consequences of increased transparency on international markets following the G20 summit of 2011. We derive public policies conclusions regarding trade policies and improvements of information systems. We also bring forward a methodological tool that is hardly applied to agricultural economics: imperfect information models. The applications presented in this thesis prove the relevance of this tool for analysing many agricultural issues. ; Les crises alimentaires de 2007-08 et 2010-11, et notamment leurs conséquences sur les ménages les plus pauvres, ont suscité un renouveau d'intérêt pour les politiques de stabilisation des prix. Cette thèse analyse trois aspects de la question de la volatilité des prix agricoles : le rôle des entreprises commerciales d'Etat pour la sécurité alimentaire ; l'effet de la qualité de l'information concernant des chocs naturels ou économiques sur les variations de prix agricoles ; et les conséquences de l'accroissement de la transparence sur les marchés internationaux engendrée entre autres par la mise en place de nouveaux systèmes d'information suite au G20 de 2011. Outre ses conclusions en termes de politiques publiques sur les politiques commerciales ou sur l'amélioration des systèmes d'information, cette thèse met en avant un outil rarement appliqué à l'économie agricole : les modèles d'information imparfaite. Les applications présentées ici prouvent la pertinence de cet outil et l'intérêt de son utilisation pour répondre à de nombreuses problématiques d'économie agricole.

The 2007-08 and 2010-11 food crises, and especially their consequences on the poorest households, have led to a renewed interest for food price stabilisation. This thesis investigates three issues about food price volatility: the role of state trading enterprises for food security; the impact of information accuracy regarding natural or economic shocks on food price variations; and the consequences of increased transparency on international markets following the G20 summit of 2011. We derive public policies conclusions regarding trade policies and improvements of information systems. We also bring forward a methodological tool that is hardly applied to agricultural economics: imperfect information models. The applications presented in this thesis prove the relevance of this tool for analysing many agricultural issues. ; Les crises alimentaires de 2007-08 et 2010-11, et notamment leurs conséquences sur les ménages les plus pauvres, ont suscité un renouveau d'intérêt pour les politiques de stabilisation des prix. Cette thèse analyse trois aspects de la question de la volatilité des prix agricoles : le rôle des entreprises commerciales d'Etat pour la sécurité alimentaire ; l'effet de la qualité de l'information concernant des chocs naturels ou économiques sur les variations de prix agricoles ; et les conséquences de l'accroissement de la transparence sur les marchés internationaux engendrée entre autres par la mise en place de nouveaux systèmes d'information suite au G20 de 2011. Outre ses conclusions en termes de politiques publiques sur les politiques commerciales ou sur l'amélioration des systèmes d'information, cette thèse met en avant un outil rarement appliqué à l'économie agricole : les modèles d'information imparfaite. Les applications présentées ici prouvent la pertinence de cet outil et l'intérêt de son utilisation pour répondre à de nombreuses problématiques d'économie agricole.

National governments dislike food price volatility to varying extents. When some of them use trade measures to insulate their domestic market from international food price fluctuations, that volatility is amplified. This in turn prompts more countries to follow suit. However, when both food-exporting and food-importing countries so respond, each group becomes less capable of preventing domestic price volatility. This paper examines empirically the extent of insulation in both groups of countries, and also in high-income versus developing countries. It also provides an estimate of the contribution of such government actions to international food price spikes. A multilateral agreement to limit such government responses would reduce the need for all countries to so intervene, and allow more-efficient generic social protection policies to deal with the most vulnerable cases. ; The author is grateful for financial support from the Australian Research Council, the World Bank, and Australia's Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.

Biotic factors such as pests create biodiversity effects that increase food production risks and decrease productivity when agriculture specializes. Under free trade, they reduce the specialization in food production that otherwise prevails in a Ricardian two-country setup. Pesticides allow farmers to reduce biodiversity effects , but they are damaging for the environment and for human health. When regulating farming practices under free trade, governments face a trade-off: they are tempted to restrict the use of pesticides compared to under autarky because domestic consumption partly relies on imports and thus depends less on them, but they also want to preserve the competitiveness of their agricultural sector on international markets. Contrary to the environmental race-to-the-bottom tenet, we show that at the symmetric equilibrium under free trade restrictions on pesticides are generally more stringent than under autarky. As a result, trade increases the price volatility of crops produced by both countries, and, depending on the intensity of the biodiversity effects, of some or all of the crops that are country-specific.