This book provides fresh insights into concepts, methods and new research findings on the causes of excessive food price volatility. It also discusses the implications for food security and policy responses to mitigate excessive volatility. The approaches applied by the contributors range from on-the-ground surveys, to panel econometrics and innovative high-frequency time series analysis as well as computational economics methods. It offers policy analysts and decision-makers guidance on dealing with extreme volatility.

Matthias Kalkuhl is Professor on Climate Change, Development and Economic Growth at the University of Potsdam, Germany, and Head of the Working Group Economic Growth and Human Development, MCC Berlin, Germany

Joachim von Braun is Professor for Economic and Technological Change at the University of Bonn and Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF)

Maximo Torero, Dr., is Division Director of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute, IFPRI for Latin America, leader of the Global Research Program on Institutions and Infrastructure for Markets Development, and co-leader of the Global Research Program on Urban and Rural Linkages