Download or read book Not a Game Speculation vs Food Security Regulating financial markets to grow a better future written by Marc-Olivier Herman and published by Oxfam. This book was released on with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Advances in Food Security and Sustainability written by Marc J. Cohen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2023-11-01 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advances in Food Security and Sustainability, Volume Eight highlights new advances in the field with this new volume presenting interesting chapter on important topics such as Food Security, Diversification, and Inequality: Indonesia in the Era of Economic Recovery and High Price Trends, Oil Palm Cultivation and the Impact of Climate Change in Malaysia: A Systematic Review, Food Loss and Waste in Nigeria: Implications for Food Security and Environmental Sustainability, and the Role of different stakeholders and their relative importance in managing disaster. - Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors - Presents the latest release in the Advances in Food Security and Sustainability series

Download or read book Law and the Political Economy of Hunger written by Anna Chadwick and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-31 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an inquiry into the role of law in the contemporary political economy of hunger. In the work of many international institutions, governments, and NGOs, law is represented as a solution to the persistence of hunger. This presentation is evident in the efforts to realize a human right to adequate food, as well as in the positioning of law, in the form of regulation, as a tool to protect society from 'unruly' markets. In this monograph, Anna Chadwick draws on theoretical work from a range of disciplines to challenge accounts that portray law's role in the context of hunger as exclusively remedial. The book takes as its starting point claims that financial traders 'caused' the 2007-8 global food crisis by speculating in financial instruments linked to the prices of staple grains. The introduction of new regulations to curb the 'excesses' of the financial sector in order to protect the food insecure reinforces the dominant perception that law can solve the problem. Chadwick investigates a number of different legal regimes spanning public international law, international economic law, transnational governance, private law, and human rights law to gather evidence for a counterclaim: law is part of the problem. The character of the contemporary global food system-a food system that is being progressively 'financialized'-owes everything to law. If world hunger is to be eradicated, Chadwick argues, then greater attention needs to be paid to how different legal regimes operate to consistently privilege the interests of the wealthy few over the needs of poor and the hungry.

Download or read book Food Wars written by Tim Lang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the years since publication of the first edition of Food Wars much has happened in the world of food policy. This new edition brings these developments fully up to date within the original analytical framework of competing paradigms or worldviews shaping the direction and decision-making within food politics and policy. The key theme of the importance of integrating human and environmental health has become even more pressing. In the first edition the authors set out and brought together the different strands of emerging agendas and competing narratives. The second edition retains the same core structure and includes updated examples, case studies and the new issues which show how these conflicting tendencies have played out in practice over recent years and what this tells us about the way the global food system is heading. Examples of key issues given increased attention include: nutrition, including the global rise in obesity, as well as chronic conditions, hunger and under-nutrition the environment, particularly the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, water stress and food security food industry concentration and market power volatility and uncertainty over food prices and policy responses tensions over food, democracy and citizenship social and cultural aspects impacting food and nutrition policies.

Download or read book Global Food Value Chains and Competition Law written by Ioannis Lianos and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-05 with total page 661 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The food industry is a notoriously complex economic sector that has not received the attention it deserves within legal scholarship. Production and distribution of food is complex because of its polycentric character (as it operates at the intersection of different public policies) and its dynamic evolution and transformation in the last few decades (from technological and governance perspectives). This volume introduces the global value chain approach as a useful way to analyse competition law and applies it to the operations of food chains and the challenges of their regulation. Together, the chapters not only provide a comprehensive mapping of a vast comparative field, but also shed light on the intricacies of the various policies and legal fields in operation. The book offers a conceptual and theoretical framework for competition authorities, companies and academics, and fills a massive gap in the competition policy literature dealing with global value chains and food.

Download or read book Broken Markets written by Murray Worthy and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This report seeks to counter arguments put forward by those sceptical of the influence of financial speculation. It shows how financial speculation has boomed, turning commodity derivatives into just another asset class for investors, distorting and undermining the effective functioning of agricultural markets. It shows how these changes in the financial markets translate into changes in the price of food, and the devastating impact this has had on the world's poorest people. It concludes by recommending urgent action to introduce new rules to limit the influence of financial speculators and bring transparency and stability to these out of control markets."--Executive summary.

Download or read book Handbook on the Globalisation of Agriculture written by Guy M. Robinson and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 525 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook provides insights to the ways in which globalisation is affecting the whole agri-food system from farms to the consumer. It covers themes including the physical basis of agriculture, the influence of trade policies, the nature of globalis

Download or read book The G20 written by Peter I. Hajnal and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-16 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important book is an authoritative work of reference on the G20, G8 and G20 reform, and relevant information sources. Peter Hajnal thoroughly traces the origins of the G20, surveys the G20 finance ministers' meetings since 1999 and the series of G20 summits since 2008. He examines agenda-setting and agenda evolution, discusses the question of G20 membership and surveys the components of the G20 system. He goes on to analyze the relationship of the G20 with international governmental organizations, the business sector, and civil society and looks at the current relationship between the G8 and the G20. He also discusses how G20 performance can be monitored and evaluated. The book includes an extensive bibliography on the G20, G8/G20 reform, and issues of concern to the G20. The book is a companion volume to The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation (Hajnal, 2007) and is an essential source for all scholars and students of the G20.

Download or read book Sustainable Diets written by Pamela Mason and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-27 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can huge populations be fed healthily, equitably and affordably while maintaining the ecosystems on which life depends? The evidence of diet’s impact on public health and the environment has grown in recent decades, yet changing food supply, consumer habits and economic aspirations proves hard. This book explores what is meant by sustainable diets and why this has to be the goal for the Anthropocene, the current era in which human activities are driving the mismatch of humans and the planet. Food production and consumption are key drivers of transitions already underway, yet policy makers hesitate to reshape public eating habits and tackle the unsustainability of the global food system. The authors propose a multi-criteria approach to sustainable diets, giving equal weight to nutrition and public health, the environment, socio-cultural issues, food quality, economics and governance. This six-pronged approach to sustainable diets brings order and rationality to what either is seen as too complex to handle or is addressed simplistically and ineffectually. The book provides a major overview of this vibrant issue of interdisciplinary and public interest. It outlines the reasons for concern and how actors throughout the food system (governments, producers, civil society and consumers) must engage with (un)sustainable diets.

Download or read book When Speculation Matters written by Miguel Robles and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The food price crisis of 2007-08 had several causes--rising demand for food, the change in the food equation through biofuels, climate change, high oil prices--but there is substantial evidence that the crisis was made worse by the malfunctioning of world grain markets. Dozens of countries imposed restrictions on grain exports that resulted in significant price increases, given the thinness of markets for major cereals. A number of countries adopted retail price controls, creating perverse incentives for producers. Speculative price spikes built up, and the gap between spot and futures prices widened, stimulating overregulation and trader policing in some countries and causing some commodity exchanges in Africa and Asia to halt grain futures trading. Some food aid donors defaulted on food aid contracts. The World Food Programme (WFP) had difficulty getting access to enough grain quickly for its humanitarian operations. Developing countries began urgently rebuilding their national stocks and reexamining the "merits" of self-sufficiency policies for food security. These reactions began as consequences, not causes, of the price crisis, but they exacerbated the crisis and increased the risks posed by high prices. By creating a positive feedback loop with high food prices, they took on a life of their own, increasing price levels and price volatility even more, with adverse consequences for the poor and for long-term incentives for agricultural production. Because they impeded the free flow of food to where it is most needed and the free flow of price signals to farmers, these market failures imposed enormous efficiency losses on the global food system, hitting the poorest countries hardest. Changes in supply and demand fundamentals cannot fully explain the recent drastic increase in food prices. Rising expectations, speculation, hoarding, and hysteria also played a role in the increasing level and volatility of food prices. The flow of speculative capital from financial investors into agricultural commodity markets has been drastic, and the number of future traded contracts is increasing over time. From May 2007 to May 2008, the volume of globally traded grain futures and options rose significantly. Excessive speculation in the commodity futures market could, in principle, push up futures prices and-- through arbitrage opportunities--spot prices above levels justified by supply and demand fundamentals. The supposed impact of speculation is sometimes confused, however, with the impact of hedging, which reflects consumers' genuine concerns about future fundamentals and desire to hedge against risks. This brief analyzes the role of financial speculation in the behavior of agricultural prices in recent years." -- from text.

Download or read book Food Price Volatility and Its Implications for Food Security and Policy written by Matthias Kalkuhl and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-12 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides fresh insights into concepts, methods and new research findings on the causes of excessive food price volatility. It also discusses the implications for food security and policy responses to mitigate excessive volatility. The approaches applied by the contributors range from on-the-ground surveys, to panel econometrics and innovative high-frequency time series analysis as well as computational economics methods. It offers policy analysts and decision-makers guidance on dealing with extreme volatility.

Download or read book Cotton written by Adam Sneyd and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-09-22 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether we are out on the streets or between the sheets, cotton is our constant companion. But behind this ubiquitous fibre prized for its softness lies a darker story of exploitation and hardship. In this penetrating analysis, Adam Sneyd explores the power politics that envelop cotton as major corporate players and countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas compete to control it. In the aftermath of sweatshop scandal exposés and factory collapse disasters, merchants and retailers have called for 'better' cotton farming practices. But in seeking to prevent the next transnational media circus, will companies simply end up cementing business-as-usual? Corporate public relations strategy now competes directly with the voices of an alternative global community that seeks to fundamentally transform the way that cotton is farmed. Yet these demands for cotton to work better for people and the planet have flown under the radar as media attention has focused instead on farmer subsidies and prices. From the local to the global, this book takes the reader on an illuminating journey through the multifaceted and often grubby politics of the fluffy white stuff in the world economy. The pile of political laundry it uncovers is voluminous but, as Sneyd argues, must be aired in the interests of sustainability and development.

Download or read book Speculation on Agricultural Commodities written by Ingo Pies and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This short essay on financial speculation with agricultural commodities offers (1) a survey of the real economy factors that caused recent hunger crises, (2) an overview of academic research on the impact of index-based financial speculation on agricultural futures markets, and (3) a discussion of political measures that are appropriate for im-proving global food security. The arguments are supported by numerous graphs.

Download or read book The Economics of Food Price Volatility written by Jean-Paul Chavas and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The conference was organized by the three editors of this book and took place on August 15-16, 2012 in Seattle."--Preface.

Download or read book The Global Food Crisis written by Jennifer Clapp and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2009-09-30 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global food crisis is a stark reminder of the fragility of the global food system. The Global Food Crisis: Governance Challenges and Opportunities captures the debate about how to go forward and examines the implications of the crisis for food security in the world’s poorest countries, both for the global environment and for the global rules and institutions that govern food and agriculture. In this volume, policy-makers and scholars assess the causes and consequences of the most recent food price volatility and examine the associated governance challenges and opportunities, including short-term emergency responses, the ecological dimensions of the crisis, and the longer-term goal of building sustainable global food systems. The recommendations include vastly increasing public investment in small-farm agriculture; reforming global food aid and food research institutions; establishing fairer international agricultural trade rules; promoting sustainable agricultural methods; placing agriculture higher on the post-Kyoto climate change agenda; revamping biofuel policies; and enhancing international agricultural policy-making. Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation

Download or read book The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report written by Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Food as a Commons written by Jose Luis Vivero-Pol and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-17 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the scientific and industrial revolution to the present day, food – an essential element of life – has been progressively transformed into a private, transnational, mono-dimensional commodity of mass consumption for a global market. But over the last decade there has been an increased recognition that this can be challenged and reconceptualized if food is regarded and enacted as a commons. This Handbook provides the first comprehensive review and synthesis of knowledge and new thinking on how food and food systems can be thought, interpreted and practiced around the old/new paradigms of commons and commoning. The overall aim is to investigate the multiple constraints that occur within and sustain the dominant food and nutrition regime and to explore how it can change when different elements of the current food systems are explored and re-imagined from a commons perspective. Chapters do not define the notion of commons but engage with different schools of thought: the economic approach, based on rivalry and excludability; the political approach, recognizing the plurality of social constructions and incorporating epistemologies from the South; the legal approach that describes three types of proprietary regimes (private, public and collective) and different layers of entitlement (bundles of rights); and the radical-activist approach that considers the commons as the most subversive, coherent and history-rooted alternative to the dominant neoliberal narrative. These schools have different and rather diverging epistemologies, vocabularies, ideological stances and policy proposals to deal with the construction of food systems, their governance, the distributive implications and the socio-ecological impact on Nature and Society. The book sparks the debate on food as a commons between and within disciplines, with particular attention to spaces of resistance (food sovereignty, de-growth, open knowledge, transition town, occupations, bottom-up social innovations) and organizational scales (local food, national policies, South–South collaborations, international governance and multi-national agreements). Overall, it shows the consequences of a shift to the alternative paradigm of food as a commons in terms of food, the planet and living beings.