IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jhisec/v32y2010i03p397-418_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Speculation In Commodities: Keynes’ “Practical Acquaintance” With Futures Markets

Author

Listed:
  • FANTACCI, LUCA
  • MARCUZZO, MARIA CRISTINA
  • SANFILIPPO, ELEONORA

Abstract

In this paper we address the subject of Keynes as a speculator. We look first at the primary sources of information, which are in the form of unpublished letters and broker’s statements. Secondly, we look at the theory Keynes sparingly presented in his writings, but which nevertheless is grounded on his first-hand knowledge of speculative behavior. Thirdly, we examine the focus on speculation in commodities, which had great weight in his portfolio, and have chosen a particular commodity -wheat- for our investigation. In particular, we examine some of Keynes’s dealings in wheat futures with the aim of shedding light on the underlying investment strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Fantacci, Luca & Marcuzzo, Maria Cristina & Sanfilippo, Eleonora, 2010. "Speculation In Commodities: Keynes’ “Practical Acquaintance” With Futures Markets," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(3), pages 397-418, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jhisec:v:32:y:2010:i:03:p:397-418_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1053837210000337/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carlo Cristiano & Maria Cristina Marcuzzo & Eleonora Sanfilippo, 2018. "Taming the great depression: Keynes’s personal investments in the US stock market, 1931–1939," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(1), pages 13-40, April.
    2. D'Orlando, Fabio & Sanfilippo, Eleonora, 2010. "Behavioral foundations for the Keynesian consumption function," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1035-1046, December.
    3. Carabelli, Anna & Cedrini, mario, 2014. "Not Beautiful, not Just, not Virtuous; 'And It Doesn't Deliver the Goods'. Capitalism and “Fear of Goods” in Keynes's Thought," CESMEP Working Papers 201405, University of Turin.
    4. Chambers, David, 2019. "Commodity Option Pricing Efficiency before Black Scholes Merton," CEPR Discussion Papers 13975, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. David Chambers & Rasheed Saleuddin, 2020. "Commodity option pricing efficiency before Black, Scholes, and Merton," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(2), pages 540-564, May.
    6. Bhabani Sankar Rout & Nupur Moni Das & K. Chandrasekhara Rao, 2021. "Functional Effectiveness of Commodity Futures Market: A Comparative Assessment of Agricultural and Metal Commodities," Paradigm, , vol. 25(1), pages 42-60, June.
    7. David Chambers & Elroy Dimson & Justin Foo, 2013. "Keynes, King's, and Endowment Asset Management," NBER Chapters, in: How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, pages 127-150, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Bhabani Sankar Rout & Nupur Moni Das & K. Chandrasekhara Rao, 2024. "Does Commodity Derivatives Function Effectively? A lengthy Discussion," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 13(2), pages 154-165, July.
    9. David Chambers & Elroy Dimson & Christophe Spaenjers, 0. "Art as an Asset: Evidence from Keynes the Collector," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 490-520.
    10. Marcuzzo, Maria Cristina, 2012. "Speculation and regulation in commodity markets: The Keynesian approach in theory and practice," MPRA Paper 44131, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jhisec:v:32:y:2010:i:03:p:397-418_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/het .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.