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Speculation on Primary Commodities: The Effects of Restricted Entry

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  • John McLaren

Abstract

We present a model of oligopolistic commodity speculation, in which a limited number of speculators practice non-cooperative storage in an infinite-horizon game. A significant technical difficulty due to the non-negative stock constraint is overcome, and a tractable sub-game perfect equilibrium is presented, in which it is shown that less is stored and prices are more volatile than under perfect competition. It turns out that a tax on consumption of the good would increase storage, stabilize prices, increase welfare and raise speculative profits; the oligopolists would thus lobby for a tariff raised against their own shipments.

Suggested Citation

  • John McLaren, 1999. "Speculation on Primary Commodities: The Effects of Restricted Entry," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 66(4), pages 853-871.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:66:y:1999:i:4:p:853-871.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/1467-937X.00111
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    Cited by:

    1. Christophe Gouel, 2012. "Agricultural Price Instability: A Survey Of Competing Explanations And Remedies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 129-156, February.
    2. Bask, Mikael & Widerberg, Anna, 2009. "Market structure and the stability and volatility of electricity prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 278-288, March.
    3. Singer, Marcos & Donoso, Patricio, 2008. "Upstream or downstream in the value chain?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(6), pages 669-677, June.
    4. David Andrés‐Cerezo & Natalia Fabra, 2023. "Storing power: market structure matters," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 54(1), pages 3-53, March.
    5. Kornher, Lukas & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2013. "Food Price Volatility in Developing Countries and its Determinants," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 52(4), pages 1-32, November.
    6. Basu Kaushik, 2014. "The Art of Currency Manipulation: How Some Profiteer by Deliberately Distorting Exchange Rates," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 199-211, February.
    7. Mitraille, Sébastien & Thille, Henry, 2014. "Speculative storage in imperfectly competitive markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 44-59.
    8. Mitraille, Sébastien & Thille, Henry, 2009. "Monopoly behaviour with speculative storage," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1451-1468, July.
    9. Jean-Paul Chavas, 2008. "On Storage Behavior Under Imperfect Competition, with Application to the American Cheese Market," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 33(4), pages 325-339, December.
    10. Steve McCorriston & Donald MacLaren, 2021. "Market Intermediaries, Storage and Policy Reforms," Discussion Papers 2109, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.

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