> Wether risk reduction as financial instrument is productive for society can remain open to interpretation. However, it, without a doubt, has value.
That's my original point, I don't believe speculation (and tools to reduce the risk of speculation) is productive. At best, it's a hovering up of the value delta between two actors with differential information.
They CERTAINLY have value, for the financial actors using them. Just it isn't a productivity gain for society as a whole. Certainly gambling isn't.
Yes. And what I tried to point out, albeit not very clearly in retrospect, was that hedging is not only applicable and useful in cases that are plainly speculative in nature. E.g. I would like to hedge against the case of Forex fluctuations when doing a large international deal, or delivery delays, or bad harvests, etc.
That's my original point, I don't believe speculation (and tools to reduce the risk of speculation) is productive. At best, it's a hovering up of the value delta between two actors with differential information.
They CERTAINLY have value, for the financial actors using them. Just it isn't a productivity gain for society as a whole. Certainly gambling isn't.