Agricultural price volatility is "bad". But where does it come from? Remedies are completely different for "endogenous" or "exogenous" fluctuations. The recent crisis seems to indicate that exogenous remedies have been applied to endogenous fluctuations.

This is a review article by Andrew Sharpe from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards of Angus Maddison's path-breaking new book, The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective. The article summarizes Maddison's key findings in a number of areas, with particular emphasis on his estimates of...