Food Fight

When bread was too pricey to eat,
Egyptians rebelled in the street;
Now others may hoard,
As they cannot afford
The true cost of the high price of wheat.    

The Wall Street Journal's Heard on the Street column, citing the 13% rise in the cost of wheat since December, notes the role that the rising cost of staple foods has played in unrest in Cairo, Tunis and elsewhere. The natural impulse of governments to increase supply by hoarding may ironically drive the price higher, since such actions remove some of the marginal supply from the world market.