Agricultural and Applied Economics—Without Apology
From an article in today’s The Globe and Mail:
“Oil prices surged today after coalition strikes on Libya, prompting concerns over what the conflict could mean to the crude market and the global economy, already touchy after the devastation in Japan.
Last week’s issue of The Economist featured a good article on the measures adopted by Arab governments since the beginning of 2011 to stave off political unrest.
In Algeria, the government cut the tax on sugar. Jordan cut fuel and food taxes. In Kuwait, the government offers free food for up to 14 months. Libya cut taxes and import duties on food. In Morocco, a system of subsidies was put in place for wheat producers. Syria cut taxes on coffee and sugar and reduced import duties on food. And in Tunisia, subsidies were put in place to compensate for rising food prices.
Misleading and Mistaken Claims About Food Prices in the HuffPo
Knowing how a very small fraction of the actual price we pay for food in this country is actually due to the cost of food itself, I was intrigued by a HuffPo article this week with the somewhat sensationalist title of “Rising Food Prices Intensify Poverty, Hunger In US And World,” which began as follows: