Substantial danger exists that politically prescribed market interventions, designed to counter a supposed failure of the markets, will leave markets functioning worse rather than better. This is particularly true of Eastern European transition countries, where institutional regulations function...

Many countries restricted their exports to world agricultural markets during the most recent price peaks in order to insulate their domestic agricultural prices from price developments in international markets. Their ultimate aim was countering the rise in food price inflation and protecting...

An evaluation of 35 research papers into the impact of financial speculation on agricultural commodities markets has revealed: The vast majority of studies did not confirm the concerns that prevail in public discourse. The current state of knowledge indicates only a few, and weak, findings that...

Curbing poverty can surely be deemed to be one of the most eminent objectives on socio-political agendas. Progress in reducing worldwide poverty achieved in to date, however, makes rather sobering reading. China has considerably reduced the number of poor since commencement of economic reforms...

Russia, a former net importer of wheat, has developed into one of the leading actors in the world wheat market within the last decade. Forecasts suggest that Russia's share in the world market may increase even further and Russia might become the world's largest wheat exporter by 2020. One key...

Eine Auswertung von 35 Forschungsarbeiten über den Einfluss der Finanzspekulation auf die Agrarrohstoffmärkte gelangt zu folgenden Ergebnissen: Die weit überwiegende Mehrheit der Studien kann die in der öffentlichen Diskussion vorherrschenden Befürchtungen nicht bestätigen. Gemäß...

Es besteht eine erhebliche Gefahr, dass politisch verordnete Markteingriffe, die einem vermeintlichen Versagen der Märkte entgegenwirken sollen, Agrarmärkte nicht besser sondern schlechter funktionieren lassen. Dies gilt einmal mehr für osteuropäische Transformationsländer mit einem...

Die Bekämpfung von Armut kann sicherlich als eines der wichtigsten Ziele gesellschaftspolitischer Agenden angesehen werden. Die Bilanz der bisher erreichten Fortschritte bei der Bekämpfung der weltweiten Armut fällt allerdings ernüchternd aus. China reduzierte seit Beginn der ökonomischen...

Enterprise flexibility, against the background of ever-faster changing environs, is deemed to be as a critical prerequisite for staying successful in business. Flexibility may be termed in an economic sense as the capability to adjust production schemes to a new situation without significant...

Since the seminal work of Adam Smith, markets have been considered an efficienttool for co-ordinating the behaviour of economic agents. The basic characteristicof a market economy is that the complex system of interaction amongindividuals is not centrally coordinated. Under the assumption of...