Commodity price volatility in international markets has been used to justify numerous policy interventions, including the need for buffer stocks and counter-cyclical payments. The common measure of volatility, the standard deviation or coefficient of variation, likely overstates the actual...

Commodity price volatility in international markets has been used to justify numerous policy interventions, including the need for buffer stocks and counter-cyclical payments. The common measure of volatility, the standard deviation or coefficient of variation, likely overstates the actual...

This staff paper describes research on grain reserve stocks as a means of achieving price stability. It is assumed that price stabilization is desirable and the question of desirability is not investigated in this study. The paper is divided into two parts: Part I: Concept and Measurement of...

This study investigates the nature of demand peculiar to each class and quantify the economic and physical interrelationships existing among the five major classes of wheat produced in the United States.

There are three main parts to this paper. The first concerns the adaptation of conventional demand and supply theory to explain why and when the development of substitutes occurs. The second part is a discussion of four examples of substitutes that appear to have completed their developmental...