The Economic Way of Thinking 13th Edition by David Prychitko, Peter Boettke, Paul Heyne

Exercise 13

You decide in May that the coming summer's corn crop will be much larger and the fall corn price consequently much lower than most people expect.
(a) To act on your beliefs, should you buy or should you sell December corn futures? ( Futures are contracts to buy or sell at a future date at a price established now.)
(b) If a substantial number of knowledgeable people come to share your opinion about the size of this summer's crop, what will happen to the price of December corn futures?
(c) What information will this change in the price of corn futures convey to current holders and users of corn?
(d) How will this information affect their decisions about holding corn for future sale or use?
(e) How will these decisions, based on the information provided by the change in the price of December corn futures, affect June consumption?
(f) Can speculators carry a bumper crop backward in time from a period of lesser to a period of greater scarcity?