Opium and Empire: Some Evidence from Colonial-Era Asian Stock and Commodity Markets

2001 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren Bailey ◽  
Lan Truong
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Stock Returns ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Commodity Markets ◽  
Secondary Importance ◽  
Price Changes ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Opium Trade ◽  
Netherlands Indies ◽  
The Impact

On the basis of a new database of stock and commodity prices, along with measures of government revenues, commodity exports and immigration, the article assesses the impact of the opium trade on the economies of colonial Malaya, the Netherlands Indies and China from 1873 to 1911. Stock returns for a few Malayan industries related to international trade are significantly correlated with opium price changes, as are prices for labour-intensive, Chinese-dominated export commodities such as tin and gambier. However, opium price changes explain, at most, only a small fraction of the behaviour of stock and commodity prices. On balance, stock and commodity markets ascribed only secondary importance to ups and downs in the opium trade as measured by the price of the drug.

The Impact of Oil Price Fluctuations on Industry Stock Returns: Evidence from International Markets

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Elias Randjbaran ◽  
Reza Tahmoorespour ◽  
Marjan Rezvani ◽  
Meysam Safari
Keyword(s):  
Stock Returns ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oil Price ◽  
Price Variation ◽  
Price Changes ◽  
Price Fluctuations ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
The Impact

This study investigates the impact of oil price variation on 14 industries in six markets, including Canada, China, France, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Panel weekly data were collected from June 1998 to December 2011. The results indicate that price fluctuations primarily affect the Oil and Gas as well as the Mining industries and have the least influence on the Food and Beverage industry. Furthermore, in three out of six of these countries (Canada, France, and the U.K.), oil price changes negatively affect the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industry. One possible reason for the negative relationship between oil price changes and the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industries in the above-mentioned countries is that the governments of these countries fund their healthcare systems. Portfolio managers and investors will find the results of this study useful because it enables adjusting portfolios based on knowledge of the industries that are impacted the most or the least by oil price fluctuations.

scholarly journals A Reappraisal of the Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis Using Wavelets Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Hany Fahmy
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Structural Breaks ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Commodity Price ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Price Series ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Impact

The Prebisch-Singer (PS) hypothesis, which postulates the presence of a downward secular trend in the price of primary commodities relative to manufacturers, remains at the core of a continuing debate among international trade economists. The reason is that the results of testing the PS hypothesis depend on the starting point of the technical analysis, i.e., stationarity, nonlinearity, and the existence of structural breaks. The objective of this paper is to appraise the PS hypothesis in the short- and long-run by employing a novel multiresolution wavelets decomposition to a unique data set of commodity prices. The paper also seeks to assess the impact of the terms of trade (also known as Incoterms) on the test results. The analysis reveals that the PS hypothesis is not supported in the long run for the aggregate commodity price index and for most of the individual commodity price series forming it. Furthermore, in addition to the starting point of the analysis, the results show that the PS test depends on the term of trade classification of commodity prices. These findings are of particular significance to international trade regulators and policymakers of developing economies that depend mainly on primary commodities in their exports.

scholarly journals Volatility Spillovers Arising from the Financialization of Commodities

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing Chan ◽  
Bryce Shelton ◽  
Yan Wu
Keyword(s):  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Realized Volatility ◽  
Commodity Markets ◽  
Exchange Traded Funds ◽  
Volatility Transmission ◽  
Volatility Spillovers ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Index Investment ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines whether the proliferation of new index products, such as commodity-tracking exchange-traded funds (ETFs), amplified the volatility transmission channel introduced by financialization. This paper focuses on the volatility spillover effects among crude oil, metals, agriculture, and non-energy commodity markets. The results show financialization has an impact on the volatility of commodity prices, predominantly for non-energy commodities. However, the impact on volatility is not symmetric across all commodities. The analysis of index investment and investors’ positions in futures markets shows that, when a relationship exists, it is generally negatively correlated with the realized volatility of non-energy commodities. Using realized volatility in the difference-in-difference model provides estimates that are inconsistent with other findings that non-energy commodities, traded as a part of indices, have experienced higher volatility. The results are similar to the index investment and futures market analysis, where increased participation by investors through new investment products has put download pressure on realized volatility.

scholarly journals Global vs Sectoral Factors and the Impact of the Financialization in Commodity Price Changes

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 859-879
Author(s):  
Pilar Poncela ◽  
Eva Senra ◽  
Lya Paola Sierra
Keyword(s):  
Developing Economies ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Commodity Price ◽  
Commodity Markets ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Economic Agents ◽  
Short Run ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Predictive Content

Abstract Commodity prices influence price levels of a broad range of goods and, in the case of some developing economies, production and export activity. Therefore, information about future commodity inflation is useful for central banks, forward-looking policy-makers, and economic agents whose decisions depend on their expectations about it. After 2004, we have witnessed the so-called financialization of the commodity markets, which might induce greater communalities among commodity prices. This paper reports evidence on the relevance of the forecasting content of co-movement after 2004. With the use of large and small scale factor models we find that for the short run, in addition to dynamics, sectoral communality has relevant predictive content. For 12 months ahead, dynamics lose relevance while communality remains relevant.

scholarly journals Links between food price behaviour and nutrition in the developing world

SURG Journal ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-62
Author(s):  
Bethany Woods
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Price Volatility ◽  
Commodity Markets ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Food Price ◽  
Price Increases ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Food Commodity ◽  
Global Food

With the recent financial crisis and its enduring fallout, questions surrounding the state of global food security have become more pressing. A key element influencing the nutritional status of the world’s poor is price behavior within global food commodity markets. In recent decades, food commodity markets have experienced both significant price increases, and an increase in volatility. These price trends have had significant impacts on the diversity of diets in impoverished households worldwide, which in turn has impacted nutrition and health. This paper will discuss the causes behind recent trends in food commodity prices, and the extent of their impact on food security and nutrition. Specifically, it will address the impact of food price increases and the uncertainty induced by food price volatility on household food consumption and nutrition. Micronutrient intake is the focus of the nutritional discussion of this work, and variations of consumption behavior in various regions and within different household dynamics are all taken into account. Existing policy actions are discussed in terms of the frequency of their implementation, the factors encouraging or deterring their implementation, and their intended and unintended consequences. Finally, the paper concludes with suggestions for future actions and areas for future research.

Is stock market in Sub-Saharan Africa resilient to health shocks?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terver Kumeka ◽  
Patricia Ajayi ◽  
Oluwatosin Adeniyi
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
Stock Returns ◽  
Stock Markets ◽  
Commodity Markets ◽  
The Other ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Exogenous Shocks ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of health and other exogenous shocks on stock markets in Africa. Particularly, the authors examined the resilience of the major stock markets in 12 African economies during the recent global pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the recent panel vector autoregressive model, which enables us to capture the response of stock markets to shocks in COVID-19, commodity markets and exchange rate. For robustness, the authors also analysed the panel Granger causality test. Data was obtained for the period ranging from 2 January 2020 to 31 December 2020. Findings The results show that the growth in COVID-19 cases and deaths do not have any substantial impact on the stock market returns of these economies. In terms of commodity markets, the authors find that gold price has a negative contemporaneous effect on stock returns, but the effect fizzles out around the fifth day while crude oil price, on the other hand, has a significant positive simult aneous impact on stock returns and also converges around the fifth day. The authors further find that the exchange rate has a contemporaneous and nonlinear effect on stock returns and seems to be more dramatic when compared with the other variables. Overall, the results show that stock markets in Africa appear to be flexible and resilient against the COVID-19 outbreak but are affected by other exogenous shocks such as volatile commodity prices and the foreign exchange market. The effect is, however, short-lived – between one to five days. Practical implications Following the study’s findings, policies should be put in place to support financial markets by way of hedging against commodity instability and securing domestic currency financing. Policymakers are also recommended to concentrate on managing the uncertainties around their exchange rate markets and develop robust and efficient domestic financial markets to encourage local and foreign investors. Originality/value Several studies have been carried out on the effects of disasters (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) on stock markets, but only a few studies have examined the resilience of stock markets to health and other exogenous shocks. This study’s attempt is not only to examine the impact of COVID-19 health shocks on stock markets but also to analyse the resilience of the sampled stock markets. The authors also analyse the resilience of stock markets to commodity markets and exchange rates shocks.

Spekulation am Terminmarkt und die Preisentwicklung von Agrarrohstoffen am Kassamarkt: Eine Zeitreihenanalyse der CFTC Berichte für Weizen, Mais und Sojabohnen / Speculation in Futures Markets and the Impact on Agricultural Commodity Prices: A Time Series Analysis of the CFTC Reports for Wheat, Corn and Soybeans

2015 ◽  
Vol 235 (6) ◽  
pp. 608-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Maul ◽  
Martin Fischer ◽  
Dirk Schiereck
Keyword(s):  
Price Change ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Price Volatility ◽  
Food Prices ◽  
Agricultural Commodity ◽  
Price Changes ◽  
Cointegration Tests ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Summary Over the last few years, rising prices and increasing price volatility of major agricultural food commodities were observed. This caused a debate among various organizations about who is responsible for this development. While many Non-Governmental Organizations proclaim that speculations in future markets cause the rise in food prices, academic research provides ambiguous results on this topic. This controversy is the motivation for this study. In order to offer additional insights, the relationship between the price changes of corn, wheat, and soybeans and the corresponding changes in open interests are analyzed. Commitments of Traders as well as Disaggregated Commitments of Traders reports are investigated to determine whether the activities of speculators adversely affect food prices. First, Johansen cointegration tests are employed to analyze the relationship between price and position data. Second, VAR and VECM are used to analyze short- and long-term dynamics. The results of the empirical analysis demonstrate that in the short-run price changes precede changes in open interest. Additionally, soybeans show a long-run equilibrium relationship between both series, indicating that speculators influenced past prices to some extent. However, the percentage price change is rather low. Therefore, sharp rises in soybean prices cannot be explained by it.

International trade: Research of the reasons for the fall

2019 ◽  
pp. 79-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. S. Nazarov ◽  
S. S. Lazaryan ◽  
I. V. Nikonov ◽  
A. I. Votinov
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Global Value Chains ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Negative Contribution ◽  
Basic Commodity ◽  
The Impact

The article assesses the impact of various factors on the growth rate of international trade. Many experts interpreted the cross-border flows of goods decline against the backdrop of a growing global economy as an alarming sign that indicates a slowdown in the processes of globalization. To determine the reasons for the dynamics of international trade, the decompositions of its growth rate were carried out and allowed to single out the effect of the dollar exchange rate, the commodities prices and global value chains on the change in the volume of trade. As a result, it was discovered that the most part of the dynamics of international trade is due to fluctuations in the exchange rate of the dollar and prices for basic commodity groups. The negative contribution of trade within global value chains in 2014 was also revealed. During the investigated period (2000—2014), such a picture was observed only in the crisis periods, which may indicate the beginning of structural changes in the world trade.

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