Boom or bust: how commodity price volatility impedes poverty reduction, and what to do about it (IISD, 2008)

Commodity price volatility is a big problem for commodity-dependent countries and producers. An estimated two billion people, nearly a third of the global population, depend on the production of primary commodities like rice, cotton and copper. At the heart of the commodity price problem is the imperfect nature of commodity markets. The theoretical ideal of a supply-meets-demand market equilibrium is rarely, if ever, actually achieved because commodity supply and demand forces respond inflexibly to price fluctuations.