Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Influence Of Technological Change On Grain Elevator Pricing Efficiency, Brian Schmiesing, Steven Blank, Steven Gunn

Economics Staff Paper Series

The introduction of unit train technology is found to increase the pricing efficiency of a case study elevator. Daily prices are found to be more correlated with destination market prices and nearby futures contract prices after the subterminal was introduced. The increased ability to physically arbitrage between markets integrated the elevator into the regional and national grain market. The subterminal technology altered the price behavior of the elevator beyond simply changing the level of prices received by producers.