ABSTRACT
Once upon a time hedging by means of transactions in futures contracts was almost universally regarded as a practice intended by the hedger to avoid, reduce or eliminate the risk of price changes by shifting that risk on to others willing to bear it. Hedging was almost always defined, described or discussed in these terms, both in materials addressed to those engaged in business and also in academic publications. The analogy with insurance was commonly drawn. Here are some quotations from the work of the leading academic authors who had addressed themselves to the economics of futures trading before the Second World War.
