Re:The maze is in the mouse – What ails Google. And how it c...
by nwiswell on Thursday February 16, 2023 @12:28AM
(#34815409)
I think in general the transaction costs associated with hedging wheat price risk are so small via futures (0.05% or less) that it proves the larger point that profits cannot possibly be due principally to assumption of risk.
To the extent that it hedges them rationally, they have exactly the same expectation profit. But the bread factory that hedges its future wheat purchases has a lower real profit than the one that does not, assuming the price of wheat doesn't go up, because buying those futures contracts costs money. That's what it means to turn risk into money: if you are willing to bear the costs of things turning out poorly, you can avoid the costs of avoiding the chance of things going poorly, and increase your profit by the same amount.