"High and volatile food prices since 2000 have…" — Joseph Baines (#c878)

Card #c878IR // #c878SynthesisThesis

High and volatile food prices since 2000 have been a redistributional battle, not a neutral market event — some agribusiness groups are "price-shapers" that actively restructure markets and regulation (ethanol mandates, derivatives exemptions) to make profitable price developments more likely, while farmers and others absorb the losses.

— In our words · Source: Price and Income Dynamics in the Agri-Food System: A Disaggregate Perspective (Joseph Baines)

[Use when]

When prices swing, don't ask only who is hurt — ask who wrote the swing into the rules.

[Why it matters]

It names the mechanism behind every food-price crisis — volatility is someone's business model, and the winners lobby the rules that produce it.