210 research outputs found
Global trends in raw materials consumption
No full textThis paper reviews movements in raw materials consumption over the past 30 years. Included in this review are all base metals and steel, and important agricultural raw materials. These primary commodities share the common characteristic that they are used as inputs in manufacturing and construction. Some metals and minerals, energy commodities, and timber products are not included in this review for various reasons. The period reviewed is from 1961 to 1988. A prominent characteristic of the metals market during the past 15 years has been its very slow growth. In some years consumption of several raw materials has even declined. Explaining the causes of this slowdown, in the face of moderate economic growth, has become a topical issue. The slowdown has important implications for a number of developing countries that rely heavily on exports of these materials. The severity and persistence of post-1973 declines in metals intensity per unit of GNP, prompted the conjecture that it may have been structural. This paper reviews the debate on this issue, including results of statistical tests. It also summarizes the trends in raw materials consumption and reviews the technological developments relating to raw materials consumption.Mining&Extractive Industry (Non-Energy),Montreal Protocol,Sanitation and Sewerage,Primary Metals,Environmental Economics&Policies
The precautionary demand for commodity stocks
No full textThis paper develops a theory of the precautionary demand for commodity stocks. It suggests that commodity stocks are held for precautionary purposes by producers, consumers, and intermediate processors, while speculators hold stocks on the expectation of capital gains from a subsequent price rise. Producer and consumer stocks usually account for the largest share of commercial stocks held at any point in time. For example, at the end of 1990, stocks held by producers and consumers of copper were 72 percent of all commercial stocks of the market economy countries. Yet, the theory explaining the behavior of this class of stocks has not progressed much beyond the concept of convenience yield, first introduced by Kaldor (1939). This paper proposes an alternative theory. Holding of stocks by producers and consumers is viewed as precautionary behavior towards output and price risks. As a theory of behavior towards risks, the precautionary stock demand model encompasses speculative demand by both producers and consumers. Furthermore, both stocks and futures are treated as precautionary instruments, in contrast to the dichotomy that only stocks provide convenience yield while futures are hedging instruments.Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Non Bank Financial Institutions
Structural changes in metals consumption
No full textFor 15 years the metals market has been characterized by slow growth - in some cases, even decline - in consumption. To test the proposition that structural changes in demand were the main cause of the slowdown, the author - drawing on U.S. data - uses an extended metals demand model that recognizes energy, labor, capital, and other materials as major inputs. The traditional model explains metals consumption in terms only of output and the prices of metal and its substitutes. It is inadequate to address the issue of structural change because it ignores other factors of production, such as energy, which have experienced dramatic changes. With the extended model, the null hypothesis of no structural change cannot be rejected for most metals. With the conventional model, the null hypothesis of no structural change is strongly rejected. Results with the extended model show that the downturn can be explained mostly by changes in the input variables, particularly such nonmetal inputs as capital and energy, which are much more important cost items than metals and have undergone drastic cost changes over the period.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Montreal Protocol,Mining&Extractive Industry (Non-Energy),Primary Metals
Chaetocin and numr-1/2 numerical data
No full textGene reporter and expression and growth assay data.</p
Molecular and genetic characterization of osmosensing and signal transduction in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
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