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Rising food prices have once again grabbed everyone’s attention. Prices for some basic foods are nearing the 2008 food crisis levels. In the post ‘Soaring Food Crisis’, Paul Krugman analyzes the data from USDA World supply and demand estimates, and blames the current price spikes on global harvest failures. However, the main question still remains unanswered – is another food crisis afoot? Answers to this and some other concerns are addressed in the latest World Bank Flash and also in the World Food Program’s ‘Rising Food Prices: 10 Questions Answered’ piece.
Should 16 year old Africans vote? Why not… Africa has the youngest and fastest growing population in the world…where more than 20% are between the ages of 15- 24, argues Calestous Juma in an insightful post on the Guardian’s Poverty Matters blog. Speaking of Africa, in an interesting post, ‘Do informed citizens hold governments accountable? It depends…’ (Governance for Development blog), Stuti Khemani from the World Bank’s Research Group examines the impact of radio access on government accountability in Benin.
“What will happen if mobile phone use carries on expanding at its current rate in Africa, but literacy rates don’t improve?” Using World Bank’s World Development Indicators data, Claire Melamed shows that by the end of next year the number of mobile phone subscriptions in Africa will surpass the number of literate citizens.
And finally, take a look at the ‘AAF virtual debate: Can state owned bank s play an important role in promoting financial stability?’ on the ‘All about Finance’ blog.
Some other interesting posts and links:
- 'No Doubt Food Prices Rising', Robert Zoellick's interview with Bloomberg
- 'A Stronger Financial Architecture for Tomorrow’s World' by Dominique Strauss-Kahn
- 'Why Did Economists Not Spot the Crisis?' by Raghuram Rajan
- 'From Heroes to Zeros' from the Economist's Free Exchange
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