Food for thought
The global price of food has risen sharply over the last 18 months. This is most acutely the case with cereals. The New York Times reports that wheat has reached its highest price in 28 years. The reasons for this phenomenon seem to be broadly accepted; see for example, Paul Krugman's column or a recent presentation (pdf) by Joachim von Braun of the International Food Policy Research Institute . Though the relative importance of the reasons is difficult to assess, the list itself seems clear (the price of oil, a growing middle class in China and India with an increasing demand for meat which requires more grain for feed, droughts likely due to climate change, Western government subsidies for biofuels like corn ethanol). But I wonder if we shouldn't consider a different aspect of this. As the New York Times points out: Even the poorest fifth of households in the United States spend only 16 percent of their budget on food. In many other countries, it is less of a given. Nigeri...