World Food Prices Hit Record High--This is Not Good

Among the complex of causes of the protests in the Middle East, the rising cost of food has played an important, even if unheralded role. 

On a day of bloody confrontation in Egypt, where protesters are demanding an end to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, the WFP's [UN World Food Program] Sheeran said the world was now in an era where it had to be very serious about food supply.

US Census Data Highlight the Growing Diversity

The US Census Bureau is in the process of releasing the first set of detailed data from the 2010 Census that are required for congressional redistricting, and each new release of data generates headlines (often with a good quote from William Frey at the Brookings Institution). This past Thursday the race/ethnic data by state were made available and they highlight a now common theme in the United States--immigration patterns since the 1965 changes to the immigration law, combined with high levels of undocumented immigration--have produced an ever more ethnically diverse society.

The result has been a changed American landscape, with whites now a minority of the youth population in 10 states, including Arizona, where tensions over immigration have flared, said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.

“This is a huge demographic transformation,” Mr. Frey said. “A cultural generation gap is emerging.”

How Poor is the Average Egyptian?

If you have been watching the talking heads on television discussing the situation in Egypt, one number keeps popping up--that half of Egyptians live on less than $2 per day. Since this number is usually tossed out with crowds in Cairo as the background, the implication is that about half of the demonstrators in Tahrir Square are living on this small amount of money. It seems very unlikely that very many people in Cairo have an income this low and, in all events, the World Bank estimates that only 18 percent of Egyptians live on less than $2 per day, as I note in Chapter 10. Most of these people are living in rural villages, not in Cairo or Alexandria. By comparison, 36 percent of Chinese and 76 percent of Indians are living on less than $2 per day. Almost certainly the greater frustration in Egypt is that it is very difficult to reach a reasonably high level of living. The average per person income in Egypt (in current US dollars) is $5,680 per year (about $16 per day), but in China it is $6,890. So, Egypt has fewer desperately poor people (as a percentage of the population) than China, but the average income in China is higher than in Egypt. Will a change in government in Egypt change this situation? A lot of people on the street seem to think so.