Price Stabilization Policies and Futures Markets
分析现有短期期货合约使农民面临跨期收入不确定性，而价格稳定可能损害生产灵活性；多期期货虽优于价格稳定，但农民风险非线性，期权和政府干预仍有作用，最优价格政策要求支持价格与生产决策时的期货价格正相关。
Because of the short-term nature of existing futures contracts, farmers are subject to intertemporal income uncertainty, yet price stabilization may be detrimental because it negates the benefits of (intertemporal) production flexibility. Multiyear futures, if they existed, would be preferred to price stabilization, but they would not provide perfect hedging opportunities because the risk faced by farmers is nonlinear in price. This means that options may be useful hedging devices, and there may be scope for government intervention, even when long-term futures exist. The optimal price policy is not price stabilization, however, but it requires that support price to be positively correlated to the futures price that prevails when production decisions are made.