Recent developments in biofuel technologies have resulted in heightened linkages between the petroleum and agricultural sectors. As such, a large price and/or volatility shift experienced in one sector is now more likely to spill-over into the other. In trying to capture the interrelations...

There has been an increase in food price instability in recent years, with varied consequences for farmers, market participants, and consumers. Before policy makers can design schemes to reduce food price uncertainty or ameliorate its effects, they must first understand the factors that have...

Recent work finds evidence that the volatility of the U.S. economy fell dramatically around the first quarter of 1984. We trace the timing of this so-called "Great Moderation" across many subsectors of the economy in order to better understand its root cause. We find that the interest rate...