The economics of chocolate This book written by global experts provides a comprehensive and topical analysis on the economics of chocolate. While the main approach is economic analysis there are important contributions from other disciplines including psychology history government nutrition and geography. The chapters are organized around several themes including the history of cocoa and chocolate from cocoa drinks in the Maya empire to the growing sales of Belgian chocolates in China; how governments have used cocoa and chocolate as a source of tax revenue and have regulated chocolate (and defined it by law) to protect consumers health from fraud and industries from competition; how the poor cocoa producers in developing countries are linked through trade and multinational companies with rich consumers in industrialized countries; and how the rise of consumption in emerging markets (China India and Africa) is causing a major boom in global demand and prices and a potential shortage of the worlds chocolate