Broken markets – How financial market regulation can help prevent another global food crisis

Type: Reports
Date: 1 September 2011
Campaigns: Food

Broken Markets seeks to counter the arguments put forward by those sceptical of the influence of financial speculation on rising food prices. It shows how financial speculation has boomed, turning commodity derivatives into just another asset class for investors, distorting and undermining the effective functioning of agricultural markets.

It shows how these changes in the financial markets translate into changes in the price of food, and the devastating impact this has had on the world’s poorest people. It concludes by recommending urgent action to introduce new rules to limit the influence of financial speculators and bring transparency and stability to these out of control markets.