Essays on Commodity Price Variability PDF Download

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Languages : en
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Author: Amal Dabbous
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Languages : en
Pages : 121

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This thesis consists of three essays in commodity price dynamics. In the first essay, we embed a staggered price feature into the speculative storage model of Deaton and Laroque (1996). Intermediate goods inventory speculators are added as an additional source of intertemporal linkage which helps us to replicate the stylized facts of the observed commodity price dynamics. The staggered pricing mechanism adopted in this paper can be viewed as a parsimonious way of approximating various types of frictions that increase the degree of persistence in the first two conditional moments of commodity prices. The structural parameters of our model are estimated by simulated method of moments using actual prices for four agricultural commodities. Simulated data are then employed to assess the effects of our staggered price approach on the time series properties of commodity prices. Our results lend empirical support to the possibility of staggered prices. The second essay investigates the determinants of the percentage change in commodity prices. We apply the dynamic Gordon growth model technique and conduct the variance decomposition for the percentage change in spot commodity prices to 6 agricultural commodities. The model explains the percentage change in spot commodity prices in terms of the expected present discounted values of interest rate, yield spread, open interest and convenience yield. Empirical results indicate that the model is successful in capturing a large proportion of the variability in the 6 agricultural commodity prices. Moreover, we show that yield spread and open interest help predicting changes in commodity prices. Finally, the third essay evaluates different hedging strategies for eleven commodities. In addition to the traditional regression hedge ratio model (OLS) and the vector error correction model (VECM), we estimate dynamic hedge ratios using the conventional dynamic conditional correlation model (DCC) of Engle (2002) and the diagonal BEKK model (DBEKK) of Engle and Kroner (1995). Moreover, we propose two more advanced models, the DCC model and the DBEKK model that will account for the impact of the growth rate of open interest on market’s volatility and co-movements of commodity spot and futures returns. The empirical analysis shows that adding the growth rate of open interest improves the in-sample hedging effectiveness of the DCC model. Furthermore, the out-of-sample hedging exercise empirical results show that static models present the best out-of-sample hedging performance for 5 of the commodities. The DCC model presents the smallest basis variance for 4 of the commodities. The DBEKK model with the growth rate of open interest performs the best in terms of the basis variance reduction for corn and wheat. Our out-of-sample empirical findings provide important implications for futures hedging and highlight the fact that the use of static models to determine the optimal hedge ratio could be more effective than the use of dynamic hedge ratio models.

Author: Jean-Baptiste Bonnier
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Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Commodities play an essential role in our economies, and futures markets are central in the determination of commodity prices. This thesis aims to participate to the understanding of the behaviour of commodity prices and to produce forecasts based on recently developed methods. With regards to forecasting, we focus on two different topics for three commodities (Crude oil, Wheat, and Gold): point forecasts at a one-month horizon from a large set of predictors, and one-day ahead volatility forecasts using covariates in a recent model selection method for conditional volatility. With regards to explanation, we are interested in informational efficiency and price discovery in two distinct frameworks: predictive regressions using data that pertain to different theories, and an analysis of the effect of changes in traders' positions on the volatility.

Author: Yingzi Li
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Languages : en
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The third study investigates the effect of the revelation of posted bids in second-price experimental auctions for apple quality attributes under an experimental design where information is added progressively across rounds. We find that the revelation of posted bids does not bias the following bids and that having increased information on the apple increases the accuracy of participants' following bids. Therefore, the final round bids are used to elicit consumers' willingness to pay for the apple attributes of interest in this study. Consumers are found to prefer large, firm, sweet, crisp apples with fewer defects.

Author: Eugenio Maria Paulo
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Languages : en
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The increase in commodity prices that has taken place in the past decade or so has resulted in renewed interest in the debate about the macroeconomic consequences of such price increase. Previous studies tend to assume that all commodity price shocks are alike and advocate a "one size fit all" policy response by monetary authorities, either by means of contractionary monetary policy to alleviate inflationary pressures or doing nothing, since these shocks are believed to have insignificant economic impact. This dissertation analyses the impact of fluctuations in commodity prices on the South African economy. The first chapter studies the impact of shocks to prices of four commodities on monetary policy variables. Results show that shocks to different commodity prices have different effects on the monetary policy variables, hence rejecting the "one size fits all" policy response by monetary authorities, as some researchers have suggested. Chapter two investigates the sectorial effects of commodity price shocks. The Dutch Disease hypothesis suggests that a boom in the natural resource sector shrinks the manufacturing sector through crowding out and appreciation of the real exchange rate. South Africa is a major exporter of a large number of commodities. Using a structural VAR framework this chapter analyzes the impact of shocks to different commodity prices on the production and employment levels in the manufacturing and mining sectors in South Africa. The results show that the commodity price boom has had a positive impact on both sectors, hence the manufacturing sector did not experience signs of the Dutch disease. Chapter three examines the volatility transmission between commodity prices and nominal exchange rate in South Africa. This chapter uses conditional and realized volatility models to estimate volatility in exchange rate, gold, platinum, oil, palladium and silver prices and then employs Granger-causality, Impulse Response analysis, Variance Decomposition and Ordinary Least Squares to analyze the volatility transmission from the commodity prices to the nominal exchange rate. The results show that there is volatility transmission from commodity prices to the nominal exchange rate, hence knowing the volatility in commodity prices would improve investor's ability to manage risk in South Africa.

Author: Nicola Rubino
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Languages : en
Pages : 134

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"In the first part of our thesis, we present an analysis of a group of small commodity exporting countries' price differentials relative to the US dollar. Using unrestricted self exciting threshold autoregressive models (SETAR). We model and evaluate sixteen national consumers' price index (CPI) differentials relative to the US dollar CPI. Out-of-sample forecast accuracy is evaluated through calculation of mean absolute errors measures on the basis of monthly rolling window and recursive forecasts and extended to three additional models, namely a logistic smooth transition regression (LSTAR), an additive non-linear autoregressive model (AAR) and a simple neural network model (NNET). Our preliminary results confirm presence of some form of non-linearity in the majority of the countries analyzed, generally favoring the Heckscher commodity points theory.Secondly, we estimate a behavioral real exchange rate model, contributing to the literature on the exchange rates through the adoption of a newly built commodity price index. Our results show that past literature do appear to have overestimated the impact of the commodities' terms of trade on the real exchange rate. Panel Granger causality testing leads us to conclude that that the long run relationship between prices and the exchange rate in commodity exporting countries is substantially still present, although no country group would clearly present contemporaneously a significant (and meaningful) short and long run causation scheme.Finally, we study the impact of commodity price volatility on the real exchange rate short term convergence in an error correction background in a panel of developed and developing countries. Through a logistic smooth transition regression, different measures of volatility are taken into account to capture arbitrage opportunities and the alternating regimes of convergence of the exchange rate to its equilibrium, proving that the commodity points theory of Heckscher represents a valid way of looking at non-linear convergence of the exchange rate to its equilibrium path." -- TDX.

Author: Mr.Rabah Arezki
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1463925964
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 23

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This paper studies the volatility of commodity prices on the basis of a large dataset of monthly prices observed in international trade data from the United States over the period 2002 to 2011. The conventional wisdom in academia and policy circles is that primary commodity prices are more volatile than those of manufactured products, even though most of the existing evidence does not actually attempt to measure the volatility of prices of individual goods or commodities. Rather the literature tends to focus on trends in the evolution and volatility of ratios of price indexes composed of multiple commodities and products. This approach can be misleading. Indeed, the evidence presented in this paper suggests that on average prices of individual primary commodities may be less volatile than those of individual manufactured goods.

Author: Na Li
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Languages : en
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Author: Isabelle Piot-Lepetit
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441976345
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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This book examines the issue of price volatility in agricultural commodities markets and how this phenomenon has evolved in recent years. The factors underlying the price spike of 2007-08 appear to be global and macroeconomic in nature, including the rapid growth in demand by developing countries, the international financial crisis, and exchange rate movements. Some of these factors are new, appearing as influences on price volatility only in the last decade. Although volatility has always been a feature of agricultural commodity markets, the evidence suggests that volatility has increased in certain commodity markets. A growing problem is that agricultural price shocks and volatility disrupt agricultural markets, economic incentives and incomes. With increased globalization and integration of financial and energy markets with agricultural commodity markets, the relationships between markets are expanding and becoming more complex. When a crisis such as a regional drought, food safety scare or a financial crisis hits a particular market, policy-makers often do not know the extent to which it will impact on other markets and affect producer, consumer and trader decisions. Including contributions from experts at the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the USDA, and the European Commission, the research developed throughout the chapters of this book is based on current methodologies that can be used to analyze price volatility and provide directions for understanding this volatility and the development of new agricultural policies. The book highlights the challenges facing policy makers in dealing with the changing nature of agricultural commodities markets, and offers recommendations for anticipating price movements and managing their consequences. It will be a practical guide for both present and future policy-makers in deciding on potential price-stabilizing interventions, and will also serve as a useful resource for researchers and students in agricultural economics.

Author: Mr.Rabah Arezki
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475545193
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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In the years following the global financial crisis, many low-income countries experienced rapid recovery and strong economic growth. However, many are now facing enormous difficulties because of rapidly rising food and fuel prices, with the threat of millions of people being pushed into poverty around the globe. The risk of continued food price volatility is a systemic challenge, and a failure in one country has been shown to have a profound impact on entire regions. This volume addresses the challenges of commodity price volatility for low-income countries and explores some macroeconomic policy options for responding to commodity price shocks. The book then looks at inclusive growth policies to address inequality in commodity-exporting countries, particularly natural resource rich countries. Perspectives from the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, emerging Asia, and Mexico are presented and, finally, the role of the international donor community is examined. This volume is a must read for policymakers everywhere, from those in advanced, donor countries to those in countries with the poorest and most vulnerable populations.