Supermarkets, Modern Supply Chains, and the Changing Food Policy Agenda - Working Paper 162

Peter Timmer

03/05/2009

The net effect of supermarkets in the developing world will be to improve the welfare of consumers, but the extent of that benefit and how well it is distributed are open questions. Many factors, including the fate of small farmers, traditional traders, and mom-and-pop shops, will come into play, and any judgment of the supermarket revolution has to consider them all.

In this CGD working paper, non-resident fellow Peter Timmer places the supermarket debate in the broader evolution of food policy analysis, which is a framework for integrating household, market, macro, and trade issues as they affect hunger and poverty. Increasingly, supermarkets provide the institutional linkages across these issues. Timmer draws from many perspectives to assess the effect the supermarket revolution may have on poverty alleviation.

Research Topics

• Food and Agriculture

CGD Experts

• Peter Timmer

Articles

• Food Aid Program Helps U.S. Farms, Hobbles Anti-Hunger Efforts (Washington Independent)
• GAO Report Highlights Costs of U.S. Food Aid Restrictions (Huffington Post)
• Toward Measuring the Impact of the World Food Program's Purchase for Progress Initiative
• Biofuels and the Food Price Crisis: A Survey of the Issues
• New GAO Report is Food for Thought -- And Action
• Is Food Aid the Answer? Q&A with Arvind Subramanian
• Carbon Emissions Raising Ocean Acidity, Imperiling Food Chain

Events

• Climate Change, Crop Yields, and Implications for Food Supply in Africa
• Preparing for the Next Global Food Price Crisis
• High Costs: Rising Food Prices and the Impacts on the Poor
• Feeding the World: The U.S. Role in Solving the Global Food Crisis
• Can Food Aid Be A More Effective Development Tool?