Anne E. Peck

Grain reserves -- unresolved issues

Abstract The authors focus on three relatively neglected issues in the debate over grain reserves: the role of private stockpiling and its relation to publicly held (or subsidized) reserves; the nature of export demand for US wheat and its relation to reserves proposals; and the distribution of (wheat) crop yields as it may affect the operation of a reserves plan. It is argued that these crucial issues bear directly on the feasibility of any proposed scheme, and will determine important attributes of any feasible scheme.

Foreign Investment in Kazakhstan's Minerals Industries

An American commodity market specialist assesses the post-Soviet history of foreign investment in the minerals industries of Kazakhstan, drawing upon a variety of sources, including in-country interviews and contacts, industry and U.S. government publications, Internet postings, and Kazakh newspapers. She focuses on the means by which foreign firms obtained shares in Kazakh enterprises, the effects to date of foreign ownership on enterprise performance and activities, obstacles confronting foreign firms seeking to invest in Kazakhstan?s minerals industries, and shifts in opinion in Kazakhstan regarding the efficacy of such investments in promoting economic development.

Privatization and Foreign Investment in the Utilities Industries of Kazakhstan

An American economist specializing in the natural resource and related industries of Kazakhstan examines the experience in the privatization of that countrys power generation, telecommunications, and postal services sectors. A focus is on the involvement of foreign companies in the process, the terms of the management contracts/joint-venture agreements, and the extremely short time frame within which privatization was implemented. Difficulties resulting from the rapid pace of privatization are described: unclear terms of sale, reversals of tender awards and cancellation of agreements, nonpayment by consumers, and uncertainties in the setting of rates. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F21, G34, L90. 1 figure, 1 table, 30 references.

The Development of Commodity Exchanges in the Former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China

The virtual collapse of the centrally planned economies of the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) and the more gradual transition from central planning to a market-oriented economy in China were both accompanied by the opening of hundreds of exchanges trading many agricultural, resource, and other physical commodities. Although many viewed them as harbingers of full-fledged market-based economies, most of the new exchanges in fact have since closed either for lack of activity or by government intervention, a history that this paper documents. New exchanges faced numerous obstacles in sustaining interest, from developing standardised contract terms to establishing effective self-regulation and state regulatory oversight. In several countries, the transparency of transactions on exchanges attracted governments interested in collecting taxes and customs duties which only drove trade away from the exchanges or turned them into little more than state agencies. In China, regulators struggled with duplicative exchanges and products, price volatility, large speculative interest, and several manipulations and have recently reduced the number of exchanges to just three and severely limited the commodities traded. There have been some successes too, including (at least prospectively) the three remaining exchanges in China, the Budapest Commodity Exchange in Hungary, and the Poznan Commodity Exchange in Poland. For all, identifying the terms to create standardised contracts has been (and continues to be) a major challenge.