Effects of Speculation and Interest Rates in a "Carry Trade" Model of Commodity Prices

The paper was originally written for Understanding International Commodity Price Fluctuations, an International Conference organized by Rabah Arezki and sponsored by the IMF's Research Department and the Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies at Oxford University, held March 20-21, 2013, Washington, D.C. The author would like to thank Marco Antonio Martinez del Angel for invaluable research assistance, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Smith Richardson Foundation for support, and Lutz Kilian for data, Philip Hubbard for conversations regarding the Consensus Economics forecast data; and to thank for comments Rabah Arezki, James Hamilton, Scott Irwin, Lutz Kilian, Will Martin, and three anonymous referees. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.