Akito Matsumoto is a senior economist in the Commodities Unit in the IMF’s Research Department, where he monitors commodities market developments and studies their linkage to the world economy. He was an economist at Nomura Research Institute and the Nomura Securities Co., before entering the PhD program at the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Matsumoto has worked also at the Bank of England and the Board of Governors during his graduate studies.
Commodity markets have been on a rollercoaster ride in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. A new book, summarised in this column, examines the long-term forces of technology, geography, demography and policy that influence these markets, and how their interplay sends price signals to producers and consumers.