I discuss the short-run dynamics of commodity prices, production, and inventories, as well as the sources and effects of market volatility. I explain how prices, rates of production, and inventory levels are interrelated, and are determined via equilibrium in two interconnected markets: a cash market for spot purchases and sales of the commodity, and a market for storage. I show how equilibrium...

Commodity prices tend to be volatile, and volatility itself varies over time. Changes in volatility can affect market variables by directly affecting the marginal value of storage, and by affecting a component of the total marginal cost of production: the opportunity cost of exercising the option to produce the commodity now rather than waiting for more price information. I examine the role of ...

Commodity prices tend to be volatile, and volatility itself varies over time. Changes in volatility can affect market variables by directly affecting the marginal value of storage, and by affecting a component of the total marginal cost of production: the opportunity cost of exercising the option to produce the commodity now rather than waiting for more price information. I examine the role of ...

We have conducted a dynamic stochastic investment analysis of carbon capture, transport and storage (CCTS) retrofitting in an environment of CO2 price and technology uncertainty. It includes the option to invest in, and to use or shut down, the CCTS unit. While modeling certificate price uncertainties is standard, stochastic processes including diminishing increments are implemented for thermal...

The sensitivity of the optimal control of carbon dioxide emissions to the specification of the social welfare function is systematically explored using the FUND model. Increasing risk aversion emphasises climate change damages relative to emission reduction costs, but at the same time increases the discount rate of consumption. Without international co-operation, the discount rate effect domina...

This paper analyses the impact of technological diversity on innovative activity at the firm level. The empirical study on a panel of European R&D active companies shows that both R&D intensity and patents increase with the degree of technological diversification of the firm. Possible explanations are that, on the one hand, a firm that diversifies its technology can receive more spillovers from...

We study the behavior of football (soccer) referees in the German Bundesliga. Referees are requested to act as impartial agents. However, they may be tempted to allocate benefits and rewards in a biased way. Agency theory has long neglected this form of malfeasance of economic agents, but has rather concentrated on agents exerting suboptimal effort levels. Favoritism or biased behavior of refer...

This paper examines the influence that product market competition has on the use of incentive payment schemes. We use data from a large representative cross-section survey which allows us to control for other influences. We show that the degree of product market competition that an establishment faces has a significantly positive effect on the likelihood that it will use a performance-related p...