Review of Food Crises and the WTO by Baris Karapinar and Christian Häberli (Eds.)

Abstract

The 2007–2008 food crisis was characterized by a sharp increase in world prices for major agricultural commodities, including wheat, rice, maize, and oilseed crops.1 Prices for staple commodities reached their highest point in nearly three decades, leading to riots and political protests in more than thirty countries.2 Increases in food prices up to the first quarter of 2008 pushed an additional 100 million people into poverty and eliminated almost seven years of progress in long-term poverty reduction.3 Compiled in 2010, Food Crises and the WTO provides a comprehensive account of the 2008 crisis, including an analysis of the event’s causes, consequences, and potential responses. The work focuses specifically on the relationship between food price shocks and the multilateral trading system in the context of economic development, trade regulation, technology policy, and environmental sustainability. Edited by Baris Karapinar and Christian Häberli, Food Crises is divided into two thematic sections. The first section is composed of five chapters concerning the structural and cyclical causes of the 2008 crisis as well as its impact on food security and poverty. Section one also provides a comparative analysis of the 2008 spike and those occurring in years past. The second section addresses the role of international trade and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in regulating and responding to the 2008 crisis, the empirical impact of the multilateral trading system on agricultural markets, and the trading system’s potential for improving food access. Section two also offers an initial assessment of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) in light of the results of the WTO Ministerial Conference, covers applicable WTO doctrine