ABSTRACT
Agricultural and food price policy in Egypt is the contradictory product of the populist policies introduced by Nasser and of the policies of economic opening initiated under Sadat. Urban consumers want higher real wages through lower food prices, a particularly important variable when more than half of their take-home pay is spent on food. In a capital logic sense, price policy is distinguished by the kinds of economic and political crises to which food prices potentially contribute. Food prices contribute to the definition and potential resolution of both accumulation and legitimacy—the two main purposes of the state in a capital logic sense. The punch line of agricultural and food price policy in India since 1965 is that it has been successful in stimulating technological change and the production of food grains to the point of eliminating reliance on imports, but has not increased per capita consumption nor reduced the percentage of the population below required nutritional intake.
