Do Alpacas Represent the Latest Speculative Bubble in Agriculture?

Saitone, Tina L. and Richard J. Sexton

from ARE Update Vol. 9, No. 3, Jan/Feb, 2006

View Article PDF: Do Alpacas Represent the Latest Speculative Bubble in Agriculture?

Abstract

The benefits of raising alpacas are touted routinely on national television, and alpaca-breeding stock in the United States sells routinely for prices in the range of $25,000 per head, many times higher than prices obtainable in Peru where the world's largest alpaca herd resides. We ask whether current prices for alpaca stock can be justified by fundamental economic conditions governing the industry, or whether alpacas represent the latest speculative bubble in American agriculture.

Keywords

alpaca, stock, advertise, fiber, market, investment, speculative

Citation

Saitone, Tina L. and Richard J. Sexton. 2006. "Do Alpacas Represent the Latest Speculative Bubble in Agriculture?" ARE Update 9(3): 5-8. University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.
https://giannini.ucop.edu/filer/file/1453327744/16715/