Theory of economics
THE THEORY OF STORAGE. “THE SUPPLY OF STORAGE REFERS NOT TO THE SUPPLY
Of STORAGE SPACE BUT TO THE SUPPLY OF COMMODITIES AS INVENTORIES. IN
GENERAL A SUPPLIER OF STORAGE IS ANYONE WHO HOLDS TITLE TO STOCKS WITH A
VIEW TO THEIR FUTURE SALE, EITHER IN THEIR PRESENT OR IN A MODIFIED
FORM. SINCE PRODUCTION IS NOT STABLE FOR ALL
COMMODITIES ESPECIALLY AGRICULTURAL CONSUMERS DEMAND THAT THE STORAGE
FUNCTION BE SO PERFORMED THAT THE FLOW OF COMMODITIES FOR SALE WILL BE
MADE RELATIVELY STABLE.” (BRENNAN P. 51)
“the theory purports to provide an explanation of the holding of all
stocks, including those for which there is not an active future market.
it will be shown that, on the supply side, in addition to the marginal
expenditure on physical storage and the marginal convenience yield
another variable, a risk premium, is required to explain the holding of
stocks as
functions of price spreads. in the empirical part of the study the
theory will be applied to stocks of several agricultural commodities.
the risk premium for each commodity will be measured residually under
specified conditions by deducting form the price spread between two
periods the other two components of the marginal cost of storage.”
(brennan p.50)
IN GENERAL WE CAN OBTAIN A MEASURE OF THE RELATIVE RISK PREMIUMS
INVOLVED IN THE STORAGE OF DIFFERENT COMMODITITES.
“allen Paul, in a 1970 American journal of agricultural economics
article, studied the pricing of grain storage space in the u.s. during
the surplus period of the 1950s and 1960s. Paul’s work differs from
other works in that he investigates the pricing of all grain storage not
just that available to a particular commodity. While brennan’s marginal
storage cost is from the
point of view of the owner of the grain, Paul is looking at the first
component only. he is only looking at the charge to owners of grain for
bin space by elevator operators... while paul’s estimated equations may
suggest a traditional positively sloped supply function, he was forced
to concede that, despite his assumptions of ‘no convenience yield,’ his
estimated equation appeared to reflect this phenomenon. the study
suggests that
commodity contracts are an indirect means of pricing services.”
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