Historical roots of commodity markets: from mercantilism to the theory of storage

Raízes históricas dos mercados de commodities: do mercantilismo à teoria de estocagem

Abstract

Commodity markets today are shaped by financialization and price volatility, yet the categories through which they are analyzed were formed considerably earlier. This paper traces the development of commodity market theory from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, identifying two parallel trajectories. The first examines the evolving conception of commodities: from precious metals, through land as a gift of nature, to standardized outputs of finite natural resources traded as financial assets. The second follows the transformation of income from mere ownership: from classical land rent, through scarcity rent, to convenience yield, a return retaining the structure of rent while no longer requiring non-reproducibility. Integrating traditions often studied separately, from mercantilist bullionism to the theory of storage, the study reveals both conceptual continuities and major breaks in the successive redefinition of these categories. In this redefinition lie the historical roots of contemporary approaches to commodity pricing, risk transfer, and the intertemporal allocation of exhaustible resources.