Many wildlife commodities, such as tiger bones, bear bladders, ivory, and rhino horn, have been stockpiled in large quantities by speculators who expect that future price increases justify forgoing the interest income associated with current sales. When supply from private stores competes with...

For a number of animal species, speculators are betting on future price increases by holding large stockpiles of commodities from the animal. We develop a model to explain this behavior. We derive conditions where it can be optimal for a speculator to induce poachers to harvest so rapidly as to...