Emily Lambert

I've had a fascination with the commodity markets for quite some time. Apparently my grandfather was a commodity market hobbyist. And I work in food systems, and am constantly perturbed by the distortions to our food system, in part due to the financialization of the commodity markets.

Commodity crops, in their current form, were born in the midwest in the mid 1800s. Chicago's Board of Trade and Mercantile Exchange were the exchanges during this area. It all started with wheat, but quickly other crops joined the mix: corn, cattle, rye, soy, eggs, etc.

The commodities markets are a subset of the "futures" market. This can include certain kind of derivates, such as swaps. Futures are a way of insuring (or more often speculating) on future outcomes and pricing. Some make the argument that futures markets have value, but my conclusion, especially after reading this book, is that futures cause far more harm than good. The vast majority of trade volume represents speculative trades (gambling), and this speculation has negative consequences on the real economy.

It's interesting to hear how a land base (the midwest), was able to influence something as abstract as finance. One might assume that the futures markets would be based in the global financial centers of the era (London and then New York). But that's not the case, due to the agriculture heritage of commodity trading. When futures are due, you actually get delivery of product (and you don't want your tractor trailer of corn showing up on Wall Street).

This book is interesting, but I don't feel like I'm coming away with a nuanced understanding of the history of the futures market. Maybe the subject at hand was too ambitious for the length of the book (something in the 500 to 700-page range might have been more appropriate). That said, I learned a lot about an important yet obscure field.… (meer)