The Impact of Biofuel Policies in the Future: Some Concluding Remarks

Harry Gorter, Dusan Drabik and David Just

Chapter Chapter 13 in The Economics of Biofuel Policies, 2015, pp 221-231 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract We have analyzed the great food commodity price boom since late 2006 using a strict meat-and-potatoes approach. We do not discuss tulip manias or Malthus’ revenge. We do not wax poetic about how Henry Ford had ethanol as his fuel of choice for the Model-T (this time is different) or that prohibition was a conspiracy to monopolize the gasoline market. We did not use the fanciest statistical techniques known to mankind nor did we use Big Data—we were not flashy and, therefore, minimized the use of algos and routers. We did not run numerical simulations with potentially unbounded price expectations to generate bubble like price behavior. Nor did we indulge in instant economics or take shortcuts. We take the straight and narrow path to the core of the issue: the economics of blend mandates and the new price linkages between crops and biofuels and between biofuels and energy (gasoline/diesel and crude oil) prices where sectoral supply/demand shocks have a very different impact on food commodity prices than before. In doing so, we just stuck to the basics—an application of microeconomics to biofuels production and consumption, the price and quantity links backwards to the feedstocks and forward to energy and crude oil markets, with due regard to co-products, joint products and by-products along the way. We simply assume profit-maximizing agents under competition.

Keywords: Gasoline Price; Perfect Storm; Biofuel Policy; Corn Price; Price Boom (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psachp:978-1-137-41485-4_14

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137414854

DOI: 10.1057/9781137414854_14

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().