The Effects of Oil Inventories on Growth Prospects, Futures Markets, and Risk Premia

66 Pages Posted: 4 Jun 2016 Last revised: 29 Sep 2017

See all articles by Nicole Branger

Nicole Branger

University of Münster - Finance Center Muenster

Nikolai Gräber

University of Münster - Finance Center Muenster

Malte Schumacher

University of Zurich - Department of Business Administration

Date Written: January 11, 2017

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of introducing storable inputs into a general equilibrium model of endogenous growth. We explicitly account for an occasionally binding non-negativity constraint on storage. To solve the model, we rely on global non-linear solution methods, allowing us to make conditional statements on endogenous variables. We find a substantial nonlinear impact of inventory levels on growth prospects in the economy. The state of commodity holdings has an important impact on utilization of production capacity. In an economy with endogenous growth risks, firms target an optimal level of inventories to be able to increase oil usage in boom times. In an economy with transitory shocks only, the opposite is true. Macroeconomic dynamics implied by the model explain the positive slope of the term structure of futures premia and identify inventories as a nexus between the comovement of oil prices and the risk-free rate.

Keywords: Commodities, storage, futures markets, endogenous growth

JEL Classification: D24, D51, G12

Suggested Citation

Branger, Nicole and Gräber, Nikolai and Schumacher, Malte, The Effects of Oil Inventories on Growth Prospects, Futures Markets, and Risk Premia (January 11, 2017). Paris December 2016 Finance Meeting EUROFIDAI - AFFI, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2789067 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2789067

Nicole Branger

University of Münster - Finance Center Muenster ( email )

Universitatsstr. 14-16
Muenster, 48143
Germany
+49 251 83 29779 (Phone)
+49 251 83 22867 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.wiwi.uni-muenster.de/fcm/fcm/das-finance-center/details.php?weobjectID=162

Nikolai Gräber (Contact Author)

University of Münster - Finance Center Muenster ( email )

Universitatsstr. 14-16
Muenster, 48143
Germany

Malte Schumacher

University of Zurich - Department of Business Administration ( email )

Rämistrasse 71
Zurich, CH-8006
Switzerland

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