Food prices and the spectre of Malthus

I have a piece in today’s Financial Times looking at the causes and consequences of high global food prices. For those interested in some background, the China aspects of the article draw on some of the research cited in this earlier post. The details on rising food prices are covered in both the first chapter of the IMF’s September 2007 World Economic Outlook and the opening chapter of the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects 2008. The vulnerability of the world’s poorest people and economies to higher food prices is highlighted in this report produced by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture.