One of the consequences of inflation is increasing wealth disparity.
Think about it for a moment. CPI indices only measure a basket of goods and services. But you and I know as investors that inflation helps us out with our investment portfolios as well. Asset inflation is a real thing.
If you don’t have the money to invest, you only get the downside of inflation. Prices for everyday stuff go up and it becomes harder and harder to get by.
How bad can it get? Well we already have food insecurity in our own country…the richest most powerful country in the world.
And there are pressures on food supplies globally now with draughts and the war in Ukraine, also known as the breadbasket of Europe.
So are we heading to a worldwide food shortage? And if we are, what are the consequences to those at the top of the food chain?
Maybe we don’t go hungry but hunger is a big driver of social unrest globally. The world is already a highly volatile place.
My guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week studies the food supply and sheds light on the true extent of the problem. Make sure to tune in!
Marc Bellemare is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Distinguished University Teaching Professor, and Northrop Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, where he also directs the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy.
He currently serves as one of four co-editors of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Prior to that, he served as one of two co-editors of Food Policy from 2015 to 2019.
His research focuses on agricultural economics and applied econometrics. A few specific areas in which he has been conducting research include agricultural value chains, risk and uncertainty, and the consequences of high and volatile food prices.
For his research, he has won the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association’s (AAEA) Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2007, the AAEA’s Outstanding American Journal of Agricultural Economics Article award in 2011, and the AAEA’s Quality of Research Discovery awards in 2014. That same year, he also won the European Association of Agricultural Economists‘ Quality of Research Discovery Award.
His work so far been featured in media outlets such as The Economist, the New York Times, National Public Radio, and the Wall Street Journal.
For his teaching, Marc won the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award for Graduate Faculty in 2018. In 2022, he won the University of Minnesota’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Graduate and Professional Education, and was inducted in the University of Minnesota’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers.
From 2018 to 2021, Marc served on the Board of Directors of the AAEA.
Shownotes:
- What drives a food crisis?
- Is there a food crisis right now?
- The Food Crisis and its effects on Americans from different socio-economic backgrounds
- Potential social unrest as a result of the food crisis
