The Economics of Biofuel Policies ― Impacts on Price Volatility in Grain and Oilseed Markets

The global food crises of 2008 and 2010 and the increased price volatility revolve around biofuels policies and their interaction with each other, farm policies and between countries. While a certain degree of research has been conducted on biofuel efficacy and logistics, there is currently no book on the market devoted to the economics of biofuel policies.

The Economics of Biofuel Policies focuses on the role of biofuel policies in creating turmoil in the world grains and oilseed markets since 2006. This new volume is the first to put together theory and empirical evidence of how biofuel policies created a link between crop (food grains and oilseeds) and biofuel (ethanol and biodiesel) prices. This combined with biofuel policies role in affecting the link between biofuels and energy (gasoline, diesel and crude oil) prices will form the basis to show how alternative US, EU, and Brazilian biofuel policies have immense impacts on the level and volatility of food grain and oilseed prices.

Harry de Gorter is Professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, USA. His research focus is on agricultural trade policy and much of his recent work has been on biofuels and agricultural trade reform and the Doha Development Agenda, especially the impact of subsidies and protection on developing countries.

Dusan Drabik is Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and Research Associate at LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, University of Leuven, Belgium. In his recent work, Drabik has analyzed the market and environmental effects of alternative biofuel policies in the United States, the European Union and developing countries.

David R. Just is Professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, USA, and Director of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs. Just uses the tools of psychology and economics to examine how individuals approach various choices. His research has been published in scores of research articles, winning wide recognition both among academics and within the popular press.