The high food prices experienced over recent years have led to the widespread view that food price volatility has increased. However, volatility has generally been lower over the two most recent decades than previously. Variability over the most recent period has been high but, with the...

Dynamic representation of spot and three‐month aluminum and copper volatilities is considered. Aluminum and copper are the two most important metals traded in the London Metal Exchange. They share common business cycle factors and are traded under identical contract specifications. The...

An extended version of the S. Beveridge and C. R. Nelson (1981) decomposition and a latent variable approach are used to examine how the noise content, and therefore the informativeness, of four aluminum prices that have been quoted at various times since 1970—the (now defunct) U.S. producer...

The paper analyzes the pass-through of world maize and rice prices in six developing countries (Benin, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Peru and Vietnam) both at the national and sub-national (regional) levels with the view of considering the relevance of world prices for national prices (high for maize,...

This paper examines the possible price impact of speculative bubbles and index-based investment activity on commodity futures prices over 2006–2008. I look specifically at crude oil, three non-ferrous metals (aluminium, copper and nickel) and three agricultural commodities (wheat, corn and...

World cocoa production and exports are dominated by West Africa. Post-independence governments inherited and maintained marketing board or caisse de stabilisation institutions which organized and, in certain cases also monopolized, both internal and external marketing of cocoa exports. These...

This paper revisits the extent of seasonality in African livelihoods, which has disappeared from Africa's development debate. Through econometric analysis of monthly food price series across 100 locations in three countries during 2000-12, it is shown that seasonal movements in maize wholesale...