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Speculation and corn prices

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  • Xiaoli L. Etienne
  • Scott H. Irwin
  • Philip Garcia

Abstract

It is commonly asserted that speculative trading activities are largely behind the high and volatile food commodity price behaviour since 2006. In this article, we revisit this hypothesis by investigating how different speculative measures affect our conclusion on the role of speculation. Four speculative measures are considered, including index trading activities, non-commercial net long positions, Working’s speculative index, and an excessive speculative volume index. These four measures imply different underlying hypotheses about the role of speculation on commodity price movements and encompass most of the measures used in the recent literature on the role of speculation in commodity markets. Using a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model, we show a mixed impact of speculative trading on corn prices depending on the measure used. While shocks to index trading activities and excess speculation as measured by Working’s T have either zero or negative impact on corn prices, a positive shock to non-commercial net positions or the Tadesse index significantly increases the price of corn. However, the magnitude of the impact is not large, at most about $0.30 per bushel in real terms. Our findings are robust to structural breaks, alternative ordering of variables, and an alternative specification of the model.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoli L. Etienne & Scott H. Irwin & Philip Garcia, 2018. "Speculation and corn prices," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(44), pages 4724-4744, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:50:y:2018:i:44:p:4724-4744
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2018.1466992
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    Cited by:

    1. Long, Shaobo & Guo, Jiaqi, 2022. "Infectious disease equity market volatility, geopolitical risk, speculation, and commodity returns: Comparative analysis of five epidemic outbreaks," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Long, Shaobo & Li, Jieyu & Luo, Tianyuan, 2023. "The asymmetric impact of global economic policy uncertainty on international grain prices," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    3. Adhikari, Saroj & Etienne, Xiaoli L. & Trujillo-Barrera, Andres A. & McConnell, Michael J. & Adam, Brian D., 2022. "Estimating the Effects of Rising International Corn Production and Trade on the US and Global Corn Market," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322283, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Julia S. Mehlitz & Benjamin R. Auer, 2021. "Time‐varying dynamics of expected shortfall in commodity futures markets," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(6), pages 895-925, June.
    5. Algirdas Justinas Staugaitis & Bernardas Vaznonis, 2022. "Financial Speculation Impact on Agricultural and Other Commodity Return Volatility: Implications for Sustainable Development and Food Security," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-27, November.
    6. Palazzi, Rafael Baptista & Figueiredo Pinto, Antonio Carlos & Klotzle, Marcelo Cabus & De Oliveira, Erick Meira, 2020. "Can we still blame index funds for the price movements in the agricultural commodities market?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 84-93.
    7. Krzysztof Drachal, 2019. "Analysis of Agricultural Commodities Prices with New Bayesian Model Combination Schemes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-23, September.
    8. Xiao, Jihong & Wang, Yudong, 2022. "Macroeconomic uncertainty, speculation, and energy futures returns: Evidence from a quantile regression," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    9. Raza, Syed Ali & Guesmi, Khaled & Belaid, Fateh & Shah, Nida, 2022. "Time-frequency causality and connectedness between oil price shocks and the world food prices," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    10. Bernardina Algieri, 2021. "Fast & furious: Do psychological and legal factors affect commodity price volatility?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(4), pages 980-1017, April.
    11. Algirdas Justinas Staugaitis & Bernardas Vaznonis, 2022. "Short-Term Speculation Effects on Agricultural Commodity Returns and Volatility in the European Market Prior to and during the Pandemic," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, April.
    12. Anja Vinzelberg & Benjamin R. Auer, 2022. "Unprofitability of food market investments," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(7), pages 2887-2910, October.
    13. Guo, Jiaqi & Long, Shaobo & Luo, Weijie, 2022. "Nonlinear effects of climate policy uncertainty and financial speculation on the global prices of oil and gas," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    14. Charlotte Fontan Sers & Mazhar Mughal, 2023. "Food riots redux: lessons from the 2007-08 food crisis," Working Papers hal-03973284, HAL.

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