We propose and test a theory of using commodities as collateral for financing. Under capital control and collateral constraint, investors import commodities and pledge them as collateral to earn higher expected returns. Higher collateral demands increase commodity prices and make the inventory...

We gather extensive global price and volume information to establish that exhaustible mineral commodities are both affordable and abundant. On average, we extract a kilogram of mineral for every 5$ of GDP, at a cost of 1⁄4$. We predict that economic growth will progressively decouple from...