The value of the timing option implicit in CBOT corn futures contract is estimated. Separate estimates are obtained for the option without and with convenience yield. The effect of the option on basis behavior at day one of the maturity month is examined and is found statistically significant.

An updated supply of storage equation is estimated to reflect recent developments in the theoretical and empirical literature. Among the findings is an inverse relationship between storage cost adjusted price spread and a proxy measure of convenience yield, and a curvilinear relationship between...

The expected net return to storage is conventionally calculated as the expected change in price over the storage period minus the cost of storage. However, this value is almost always negative, thus raising the question why would anyone store. Numerous explanations have been proposed, but none...

Oil-producing countries have benefited from rising oil prices in recent years. The increase in oil exports and oil revenues has had major implications for these countries. These developments have revealed how governments manage their fiscal policies in light of changing oil-market conditions and...

Evolutionary and environmental economics have a potentially close relationship. This paper reviews past and identifies potential applications of evolutionary concepts and methods to environmental economics. This covers a number of themes: resource use and ecosystem management; growth and...

This paper examines the environmental effects of mineral taxes in a framework that recognizes the importance of rates and cumulative externalities and proposes an appropriate corrective tax. It concludes that mineral resources taxation should combine neutral taxes with a dynamic Pigovian type...

Optimal harvesting of prey in a predator–prey ecosystem is studied under the condition that the existence of the predator has value. Predators (birds) and humans (fishers) compete for prey (shellfish). The behavior of the system is studied and conditions for optimal control are deduced....

Economic theories of managing renewable resources, such as fisheries and forestry, traditionally assume that individual harvesters are perfectly rational and thus able to compute the harvesting strategy that maximizes their discounted profits. The current paper presents an alternative approach...

This Selected Issues paper on Algeria reports that the authorities have relied on an expansionary fiscal stance to stimulate growth and employment, but structural reforms have virtually stalled. Although the economy has recorded increasing growth, the nonhydrocarbon sector remains small and...

Optimal recycling of minerals can be thought of as an integral part of the theory of the mine. In this paper, we consider the role that wastewater recycling plays in the optimal extraction of groundwater, a renewable resource. We develop a two-sector dynamic optimization model to solve for the...