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Mémoire
Bachelor thesis

Why did the Swiss Young Socialist's initiative against speculation on agricultural foodstuff fail to be approved in Switzerland ?

    2016

44 p.

Mémoire de bachelor: Haute école de gestion de Genève, 2016

Commerce
Produits agricoles
Initiative populaire (droit)
Suisse
English Agricultural commodity prices have undergone exceptional volatility in the past decade. Staple foods such as rice, wheat and corn saw their prices rally to unprecedented levels especially in 2008 and 2011. During these periods, social unrest and food riots burst in several developing countries around the world sparking the debate on the role of commodities financialisation in the food price formation. Commodity speculators were once again put in the limelight and their activities fingered as the culprit behind food exorbitant prices. Firm believers that speculation was the root cause of commodities’ prices surge, the Swiss Young Socialist Party concluded that prohibiting speculation on agricultural foodstuff was the easiest way to curb staple food price rallies; hence, a surefire way to fight hunger in the world. This conclusion led to the inception of the popular initiative called “No speculation on agricultural foodstuff ” that was submitted to popular vote on February 28th 2016 in Switzerland. Despite its good intentions, the popular initiative was refused by 59,9% of the Swiss electorate. Acknowledging that Swiss voters were not indifferent to food prices surges and food riots around the world, this work digs into the reasons that led Switzerland to refuse the initiative. Speculative practices on commodities have always instigated controversies. The literature review associates as many advantages as harms to the practice of speculation. Having to decide on a misty subject not clearly explained or understood by politicians, the Swiss electorate based their decision on other facts than their knowledge about the impact of speculation on food prices. Results obtained from a local surveyashows that 58.2% of the Swiss electorate believed speculation was a bad thing and it contributed to foodstuff price rallies. However, the proportion of voters who supported the initiative was inferior to 50% of the total electorate. Based on this fact, we assume that a significant share of voters who believed speculation was a bad thing did not support the initiative. Furthermore, we conclude that perceiving speculation as a bad thing was not a sufficient reason to vote in favor of the initiative. The suspicion that prohibiting speculation in Switzerland concealed headwinds to the Swiss commodity-trading sector represented the greatest obstacle for the initiative. This study found evidences that the initiative against speculation bore the brunt of the importance of the commodity-trading sector for Switzerland. Considering that 65% of surveyed voters declared to be worried about the Swiss trading sector, we can suggest that the Swiss electorate was well aware of the position of hundreds of commoditytrading companies headquartered in Switzerland whom contribute with thousands of well-paid jobs and a significant share of the Swiss GDP. By juxtaposing voters’ opinions on speculation and their concerns about the initiative covert headwinds for the Swiss economy, we gathered noteworthy information concerning the Swiss electorate’s decision-making process. In sum, this work suggests that the Swiss electorate believes that a solution to fight hunger in the world is more complex than merely banning speculation on agricultural products. Moreover, Switzerland had too much at stake and the country could not afford to put one of its most lucrative economical sectors in jeopardy in order to engage in a battle that had very little chance to be won.
Language
  • English
Classification
Economics
Notes
  • Haute école de gestion Genève
  • International Business Management
  • hesso:hegge
License
License undefined
Identifiers
  • RERO DOC 278183
  • RERO R008563864
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/hesso/documents/314717
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