The economics of food price volatility.

• Position: Conferences

The NBER and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association jointly organized a conference on "The Economics of Food Price Volatility", which took place in Seattle, Washington on August 15 and 16, 2012. NBER Director Jean-Paul Chavas of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, NBER Research Associate David Hummels of Purdue University, and Brian Wright of the University of California, Berkeley, organized the meeting. These papers were discussed:

* Carlo Cafiero, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "What Do We Really Know about Food Security?"

* Christophe Gouel, World Bank, "Food Price Volatility and Domestic Stabilization Policies in Developing Countries"

* Quy-Toan Do and Martin Ravallion, The World Bank, and Andrei A. Levchenko, University of Michigan and NBER, "Coping with Food Price Volatility: Trade Insulation as Social Protection"

* Kym Anderson, University of Adelaide, and Maros Ivanic and Will Martin, The World Bank, "Food Price Spikes, Price Insulation, and Poverty"

* Steven T. Berry, Yale University and NBER; Michael J. Roberts, North Carolina State University; and Wolfram Schlenker, Columbia University and NBER, "Identifying Agricultural Demand and Supply Elasticities: Implications for Food Price Volatility"

* Julian M. Alston, University of California...