Fishing and the Tragedy of the Commons

The Observer ran a special feature at the weekend about the global fishing crisis that results from over-fishing and the permanent reduction in fish stocks

The external costs of food waste

Over 4 million apples and over a million and a half bananas are thrown away in Britain every day. This video from Newsnight is excellent on the external costs of the food we throw away - estimated by some to be worth around £8 billion a year. Should we actively encourage food scavengers? What are the strategies we should be adopting to reduce the amount of food thrown away? This is a good topic to use to teach evaluation skills for AS microeconomics.

Asian Rice Crisis

The credit crunch is rivalled, arguably, by increasing food prices as a cause of economic (and human) concern in 2008.

This article from the BBC looks at some of the implications and you can watch/show videos on the rice crisis here.

Bio-fuel curse and cure

Today marks the introduction of the new EU Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation and there has been a huge amount of coverage about the economic and environmental impact of the switch towards biofuel production.

Chart of the Day: EU Wheat, Bread and Cereal Prices

Our chart today links what has been happening to international wheat prices with the cost of basic groceries such as bread and cereals in the shops in the UK. Globally, wheat prices have been surging higher over the last few years - look at the movements in European Union milling wheat prices since the start of 2006. Changes in raw commodity prices invariably feed through into the prices of products on the supermarket shelves albeit with a time lag. (Can you spot any in the chart). And certainly in recent months, the CPI for breads and cereals has moved sharply higher as food manufacturers have passed on some of their higher costs. The CPI data suggests that bread and cereal prices have risen by over 12% since the start of 2005, yet milling wheat prices have jumped by more than 250%? How can you explain this difference? And who gains from the spike in grain prices - good news for farmers perhaps? Not if you are rearing cattle and having to find the money for more expensive grain as feed.

Food additives as a de-merit good

How badly would you miss a Turkish Delight, a Battenburg cake, tinned strawberries or mush peas?

The UK Food Standards Agency is meeting this week to debate whether up to half a dozen food additives - namely tartrazine, quinoline yellow, sunset yellow, carmoisine, ponceau, and allura red - should be removed from food manufacturing in the UK. The ban would apparently have to be voluntarily enforced by British food manufacturers but given the growing weight of scientific evidence on the damaging effects of these additives on young people in particular, I cannot understand why stronger and more decisive action cannot be taken. There are clear external costs involved - not least the damaging effects of hyperactivity on children’s behaviour and performance in school and the impact on their braind development. Further more, many food manufacturers deliberately try to hide evidence of additives in their products by hiding them away in the very small print on packagaing. As the Food Standards Agency’s own web site says:

“Spotting the additives is not easy – they are listed in ingredients lists, but the print is often very small and they can be listed by either their name or their E number. Some foods are sold without any packaging, and the additives may also be used in restaurant and take-away food. The additives also crop up in medicines for both children and adults.”

‘Food additives ‘could be as damaging as lead in petrol’ (Independent 5 April 2008)

Food additives are a de-merit good and firm action is needed to eliminate as many of them as possible from food production in the UK.  Stronger lobbying is also needed to make progress in reducing the use of additives across the whole of the European Union - what is the European Food Standards Agency for?

Chart of the Day: UK Shop Prices

There are few signs so far that the fall in the UK exchange rate against the Euro and accelerating inflation in costs and prices in China are yet showing through in the prices we pay for non-food items in the shops.

Depression watch: Food stamps a sign of recession?

The Indy carries a vivid front page lead story today about the sharp jump in the number of people in the States claiming food aid in the form of food stamps. The article is headed “The Great Depression” - clearly the headline writers at the Indy dont understand the difference between a recession and a slump.

Reuters special reports on Agflation

Reuters is producing a special series of reports on the surge in global food prices - the phenomenon known as aglfation. 

Malthus in The Moral Maze

I’ve long been waiting for a chance to plug one of the best radio shows on this blog, and now is the perfect opportunity. Yesterday aired one of the most economic topics on The Moral Maze yet: the allocation of most necessary resource: food. Philosophy took a back seat on this issue as the panel threw words like Malthus and de-regulated markets around like they had PhDs in Economics. Impressive.

Do have a listen, and don’t let the religion tag scare you.