THE IMPACT OF THE RECENT FEDERAL RESERVE LARGE-SCALE ASSET PURCHASES ON THE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY PRICES: A HISTORICAL DECOMPOSITION

In this study, we evaluate the effects of the recent Federal Reserve’s purchases of long-term assets on prices of agricultural commodities. The first large-scale asset purchases began at the end of 2008, after the Great Recession, and the second purchases began in November of 2010. The commodities included in this analysis are meats (beef, pork, and broilers), cereal grains (corn, soybeans, wheat, and rice), and softs (sugar, coffee, cocoa, and cotton). Using historical decompositions, we find significant increases in the nominal agricultural prices of ten out of 12 agricultural commodities under investigation from the second large-scale asset