Hunger is not in season
Dear readers,
ZMP Live reports daily and in real time on what is happening on the agricultural markets. Agricultural commodities are more volatile than ever. The long-term trend of constantly falling prices for agricultural commodities came to an end at the turn of the millennium. Demand tends to rise faster than supply.
Population growth and the often difficult distribution of basic foodstuffs are leading to more hunger in the world. Agriculture is responding to this by expanding farmland, deforestation, more effective fertilization methods, innovations and higher productivity.
Functioning futures markets are needed to stabilize agricultural prices and increase transparency. After all, futures markets are the first to indicate a shortage of goods. This serves the market and steers investments.
This is precisely where the essays by Dr. Ingo Pies come in. Professor of Business Ethics at Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg.
- Pies, Hunger through agricultural speculation - Lessons (not) learned
- Pies, Hunger makers - false alarm
Dr. Pies illustrates the market-regulating function of investors, speculators and index funds alongside the market players with scientific thoroughness and the talent to present even complex issues in an understandable way. The civil society arguments for keeping investors and speculators out of the futures markets because this would increase hunger in the world are comprehensively refuted. In fact, the opposite is true. Index funds also contribute to smoothing price fluctuations.
You can read these articles here and comment on them in our forums if you wish.
Happy reading
Ralf Goessler
