The end of the wheat problem?the functioning and evolution of the world wheat market, 1939-2010

  1. Ángel Luis González-Esteban 1
  1. 1 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
    info

    Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02msb5n36

Revista:
Investigaciones de Historia Económica = Economic History Research

ISSN: 1698-6989

Any de publicació: 2023

Volum: 19

Número: 1

Pàgines: 62-74

Tipus: Article

DOI: 10.33231/J.IHE.2022.10.002 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAccés obert editor

Altres publicacions en: Investigaciones de Historia Económica = Economic History Research

Resum

The outlook for the world wheat economy immediately before the Second World War was not very encourag-ing. Trade and prices had plummeted during the 1930s and many interventionist measures had been under-taken worldwide in order to deal with the so called “wheat problem”. However, the world wheat trade in 2010 was almost ten times greater than it was in the postwar years and the signs of market disintegration had dis-appeared. This paper analyses the reasons behind the extraordinary expansion of the world wheat trade be-tween 1939 and 2010, explores the main changes in the distribution of wheat exchanges and offers an in-formed explanation of those transformations. The discussion focuses on supply and demand variables, including institutional variables such as national agricultural policies, international agreements and the changing international context

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