Public finances worldwide have been severely hit by the 2008-2009 Great Recession, stimulating the debate on the consequences of growing fiscal imbalances. Building on Paesani et al. (2006), this paper focuses on the USA, Germany and Italy over the 1983-2009 period and studies the effects of...

The paper investigates the role of speculation in the Liverpool cotton futures market between 1921 and 1929. The analysis is based on historical descriptions of the working of speculation in commodity markets and is related to the tenets of behavioural finance. The model posits the existence of...

Public finances worldwide have been severely hit by the 2008-2009 Great Recession, stimulating the debate on the consequences of growing fiscal imbalances. Building on Paesani et al. (2006), this paper focuses on the USA, Germany and Italy over the 1983-2009 period and studies the effects of...

The idea that speculation exacerbates commodity and stock price volatility dates back at least from the second half of the nineteenth century when an extensive literature emerged to which Marshall contributed. The essence of his arguments, originally applied to commodities and subsequently...

This paper presents an empirically testable two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model for the United States economy that admits technology and non-technology shocks. Long-run identification restrictions further distinguish the impact of each shocks over the originating sector (i.e. as a...