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Food and Finance

Jezri Krinsky
blobMetropolis, 2021
Level: beginner
Perspective: Other
Topic: Criticism of Capitalism, Globalization & International Economic Relations, Money & Debt, North-South-Relations & Development
Format: Short Film
Duration: 7:55
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o55Uc4ym2EQ&t=1s

This short video visualizes the destabilizing effects financial markets can have on food prices, based on a paper by Jayati Ghosh. It introduces and explains the idea of future contracts and how those are used to speculate with basic food stuffs. After establishing the concepts, the video sketches out how the increase in those practices resulted in a substantial rise and later collapse of food prices around 2008 with severe consequences for many developing countries and their people.

Comment from our editors:

The video is a great summary of Ghosh's paper and the producer uses creative visualisation techniques to break down the speculative use of future contracts in agriculture.

The work of this young youtube-channel is already impressive and having a look at the other videos is definitely worthwhile. 

Go to: Food and Finance

This material has been suggested and edited by:

Jakob Nitschke
Tags: agriculture | blobMetropolis | consumption | development | Emerging economies | financial liberalization | financialization | food | food security | international political economy | speculation
2013
Level: beginner
Land and Financialization: Role of International Financial Actors in Land Deals in Africa
Professor Jennifer Clapp explains the dynamics of financialization of land and agricultural commodities in Subsaharan Africa. She points to the historical roots of accelerated land speculation and their connection to financial institutions, both generating and reinforcing the process of financialization of African land. Besides talking about roots and dynamics of speculation with land on financial markets, she puts the perspective of scholarly investigation onto the investor's side in discussing guidelines of responsible investment and regulation in the front instead of focussing on the receiving countries.
Jennifer Clapp
The North-South Institute
2021
Level: beginner
Food and the Struggle for Africa’s Sovereignty
In this article, Jihen Chandoul discusses the importance of food sovereignty in Africa, reflecting on the continent’s early post independence movements for self sufficiency.
Jihen Chandoul
Post-Colonialisms Today: postcolonialisms.regionsrefocus.org
2020
Level: beginner
The Economics of Covid-19 | SOAS University of London
This is webinar series organized by the SOAS Open Economic Forum and the SOAS Economics Department with speakers from the same department as well as other academic figures.
SOAS Open Economics Forum, SOAS Economics Department, Various
SOAS Open Economics Forum
2020
Level: beginner
Pluralist Economic Analysis
This module examines current socio-political issues through the lens of pluralism, that is pluralism of theory, pluralism of method and interdisciplinary pluralism
Sophia Kuehnlenz
Manchester Metropolitan University
2008
Level: beginner
Planet Money
Planet Money and The Indicator aim to explain current economic events in an easy, fun and accessible manner.
Amanda Aronczyk, Mary Childs, Karen Duffin, Jacob Goldstein, Sarah Gonzalez, and Kenny Malone
https://www.npr.org/

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