Coase Colored Glasses

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Commodity prices

How do you respond to the following claims? Read the Bloomberg article as well as the interpretation below. I emailed the article's author and she said the numbers she cites are nominal prices, not real prices. Are nominal prices really indicating scarcity? What are the escapes from scarcity?

THE PRICES' HEIGHT
Market notices that natural resources are shrinking fast

While some folks in political circles still like to pretend that
natural resources are endless, global financial markets aren't, uh,
buying it. Commodity prices recently hit a 24-year high, driven by
worries that burgeoning global demand is rapidly outstripping supply.
We'll try to spare you most of the numbers (masochists may click the
link below), but suffice it to say: Copper and oil prices are near
record highs. Countries that export loads of raw materials
(Australia, Canada, South Africa, et al) are loving life as their
currencies rise against the dollar. Continuing economic growth in
the U.S. and China means that prices will probably continue to go up,
and "[t]he only thing that will get us to move decisively lower is a
global recession that would reduce demand,'' said Citigroup analyst
Kyle Cooper. Analysts at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said oil
prices will rise until 2008 and stay high thereafter, based on
worries that global oil production is reaching its peak. Hmm ...
seems like the Birkenstock crowd has been saying that for a while.

straight to the source: Bloomberg.com, 08 Mar 2005

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