The Economics of Commodity Markets

Preface

As a consequence of the strong recent growth of commodity markets and especially their substantial future growth potential, a dynamic financial industry with hundreds of participating firms, asset management firms, brokers, consultants, verification agencies and other institutions has developed. To address this large and still strongly growing market, universities and business schools have launched dozens of courses on commodity markets to date. Additionally, the Chartered Financial Analyst program (CFA) includes aspects of Commodity Markets in its certification.

This book aims at covering recent topics on commodity markets based on empirical applications and the latest developments in financial economics/econometrics. It draws on the authors’ professional, as well as teaching, experience of commodity finance and commodity markets at the University Paris Dauphine (France). In terms of intended audience, the book is equally suited to professionals (chief investment officers, portfolio managers, strategists, commodity traders, commodity analysts, energy analysts, quantitative analysts) and academics dealing with commodity markets, financial economics and econometrics.

Useful comparators for this book would be Geman’s (2005) Commodities and Commodity Derivatives: Agriculturals, Metals and Energy, and Schofield’s (2007) Commodity Derivatives: Markets and Applications. While these previous titles provide essential textbook material on the functioning of commodity markets, our ...