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Back to the futures: An assessment of market performance on the early Winnipeg Grain Exchange
Author(s) -
Santos Joseph M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
canadian journal of economics/revue canadienne d'économique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1540-5982
pISSN - 0008-4085
DOI - 10.1111/caje.12107
Subject(s) - futures contract , government (linguistics) , order (exchange) , economics , agrarian society , perspective (graphical) , business , marketing , agriculture , financial economics , geography , finance , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Abstract In this paper, I offer a quantitatively rich, historical perspective with which to consider Western Canada's recent return to private grain marketing. I assess how futures markets on the Winnipeg Grain Exchange (WGE) performed before the Canadian Wheat Board, and I consider the extent to which this performance contributed to the Canadian government's decision to create the Board. I conclude, despite significant agrarian dissatisfaction with private grain marketing on the WGE, the Canadian government ultimately proscribed futures trading because it was incompatible with the CWB model, which the Canadian government needed in order to stabilize farm incomes, particularly in the aftermath of the Great Depression.