asymmetry in retail wholesale and shipping point pricing for fresh vegetables the linkage among retail wholesale and shipping point prices for a select group of fresh vegetables is measured using wolffram s asymmetry model procedures for dealing with discontinuous time series are shown and granger s causality test is used to show the direction of the price linkage wholesale prices are shown to lead both retail and shipping point prices asymmetry in the retail wholesale response indicates that wholesale price decreases are reflected at the retail more so than are wholesale price increases wholesale price decreases are more fully passed through to the shipping point relative to wholesale increases

the price of pollution a dual approach to valuing so2 allowances under the 1990 clean air act amendments a market based scheme to reduce u s sulfur dioxide emissions takes effect in 1995 indications are that participation in the market will be light and allowance prices will be lower than was once expected using an output distance function approach for wisconsin coal burning utility plants we estimate the shadow price of so2abatement which should approximate the allowance price the estimated average shadow price is above the prices at which the few observed allowance trades have occurred wisconsin s stringent state so2legislation may explain a portion of this divergence

sulfur dioxide control by electric utilities what are the gains from trade title iv of the 1990 clean air act amendments caaa established a market for transferable sulfur dioxide so2 emission allowances among electric utilities this market offers firms facing high marginal abatement costs the opportunity to purchase the right to emit so2 from firms with lower costs and this is expected to yield cost savings compared to a command and control approach to environmental regulation this paper uses econometrically estimated marginal abatement cost functions for power plants affected by title iv of the caaa to evaluate the performance of the so2 allowance market specifically we investigate whether the much heralded fall in the cost of abating so2 compared to original estimates can be attributed to allowance trading we demonstrate that for plants that use low sulfur coal to reduce so2 emissions technical change and the fall in prices of low sulfur coal have lowered marginal abatement cost curves by over 50 percent since 1985 the flexibility to take advantage of these chan

the impact of bse on the demand for beef and other meats in great britain indices of media coverage of bse are incorporated in a dynamic aids model of meat demand the publicity which bse has received is found to have had significant effects on the allocation of consumer expenditure among the meats a short run impact has been identified which accounts in large part for the discernible drop in the market share of beef in the early 1990s and more important there also appears to be a significant long run impact of bse which by the end of 1993 has reduced the beef market share by 4 5

cap and trade and financial constraints is investment independent of permit holdings we study a new channel by which permit holdings in a cap and trade system can affect investment behavior in the presence of financial constraints permit holdings can matter through their effect on the firm s internally available resources and indirectly affect investment to test this relationship we exploit the cross sectional and temporal variation in permit holdings and the temporal variation in the price of permits in the us hbox so 2 program we find that capital expenditures are positively related to the market value of the permit holdings this relationship is stronger for smaller firms and is robust to alternative explanations based on regulatory differences

price transmission in the spanish bovine sector the bse effect a regime switching vector error correction model is applied to monthly price data to assess the impact of bovine spongiform encephalopathy bse outbreaks on price relationships and patterns of transmission among farm and retail markets for bovines in spain to evaluate the degree to which price transmission is affected by bse food scares a bse food scare index is developed and used to determine regime switching results suggest that bse scares affect beef producers and retailers differently consumer prices are found to be weakly exogenous and not found to react to bse scares while producer prices are conversely adjusted the magnitude of the adjustment is found to depend on the magnitude of the bse scare

price dynamics in a vertical sector the case of butter we develop a reduced form model of price transmission in a vertical sector allowing for refined asymmetric contemporaneous and lagged own and cross price effects under time varying volatility the model is used to investigate the wholesale retail price dynamics in the u s butter market the analysis documents the nature of nonlinear price dynamics in a vertical sector it finds strong evidence of asymmetric retail price responses both in the short term and the longer term but only weak evidence of asymmetric wholesale price responses asymmetric retail responses play a major role in generating a skewed distribution of butter prices the empirical results indicate the presence of imperfect competition at the retail level

the impact of the bird flu on public willingness to pay for the protection of migratory birds abstract in this paper we present the results of a unique time series analysis of contingent values and models for migratory bird protection based on an identical contingent valuation cv survey carried out over a three year time period since the first bird flu outbreak in 2003 although there exists no scientific evidence for a direct relationship migratory birds are believed to play an important role in spreading the bird flu virus worldwide the time series analysis allows us to test the temporal stability of stated preferences for migratory bird protection and at the same time examine indirectly the possible impact of increased media attention and public awareness levels regarding the bird flu we test the impact of the bird flu on public willingness to pay wtp for migratory bird protection in the final 2005 survey whilst accounting for procedural variance introduced by sequencing and question ordering effects but we are unable to demonstrate a direct negative relationship a novelty of the study presented here is that respondents in the cv surveys are given the opportunity to pay an annual money amount or a one time off lump sum annual wtp values appear to be significantly higher than one time off wtp values suggesting a negative implicit discount rate self selection bias is an important reason for the observed differences we find that respondents who agree to pay annually differ significantly from respondents who wish to pay a lump sum in terms of their underlying preferences and motivations towards migratory bird protection

no news is good news stochastic parameters versus media coverage indices in demand models after food scares we develop a stochastic parameter approach to model the time varying impacts of food scares on consumption as an alternative to the inclusion of news coverage indices in the demand function we empirically test the methodology on data from four food scares the 1982 heptachlor milk contamination in oahu hawaii and the bovine spongiform encephalopathy and two escherichia coli scares on u s meat demand over the period 1993 9 results show that the inclusion of time varying parameters in demand models enables the capturing of the impact of food safety information and provides better short term forecasts

permit price dynamics in the u s so2 trading program a cointegration approach the aim of this paper is to study empirically the determination and the dynamic behavior of the so2 permit prices previous research focused on ex post market price analysis without taking weather conditions into account therefore this study attempts to fill a gap in the literature by providing new empirical evidence on the so2 price evolution and its interactions with macroeconomic variables microeconomic variables and climate variables using monthly data from january 1995 to december 2006 our estimation results indicate the existence of a long term relationship between so2 permit price scrubbing costs industrial production and weather conditions in the short run so2 permit price is affected by scrubbing costs energy prices and weather conditions policy makers and private investors could benefit from the findings of this study that provides useful information on the characteristics of the so2 market and may plan their strategy

prices rise faster than they fall output prices tend to respond faster to input increases than to decreases this tendency is found in more than two of every three markets examined it is found as frequently in producer goods markets as in consumer goods markets in both kinds of markets the asymmetric response to cost shocks is substantial and durable on average the immediate response to a positive cost shock is at least twice the response to a negative shock and that difference is sustained for at least five to eight months unlike past studies which documented similar asymmetries in selected markets gasoline agricultural products etc this one uses large samples of diverse products 77 consumer and 165 producer goods accordingly the results suggest a gap in an essential part of economic theory as a start on filling this gap the study finds no asymmetry in the resonse of an individual decision maker a supermarket chain to its costs but it finds above average asymmetry where a cost shock is filtered through a fragmented w

the economics of pollution permit banking in the context of title iv of the 1990 clean air act amendments abstract this paper presents a model of the collective emission permit banking behavior of electricity generating units affected by title iv of the clean air act amendments of 1990 a rigorous treatment of the constraint that pollution permits cannot be borrowed from future allocations is introduced this approach enables an analysis of the impact of future changes in electricity demand regulations and technologies on the present permit price and emissions level the effect of uncertainty on the banking behavior is also explored

a method for analyzing pollution control policies application to so2 emissions in china abstract market based pollution control mechanisms such as pollution levy and cap and trade have received increasing attention from both academics and practitioners a good understanding of the optimal pollution price under these mechanisms is a premise for regulators to make sound pollution control policies in this paper we propose a method for deriving the optimal pollution price for a given pollution target this method consists of two steps that integrate cost function estimation and market equilibrium analysis first historical data is used to estimate the pollution abatement cost functions of the polluters second market models are used to solve the equilibrium pollution price under each control mechanism for illustration we apply the method to investigate so 2 emission control policies in china using a dataset of so 2 emissions and abatement costs from three major industry sectors electricity gas and water supply manufacturing and mining our analysis shows that the optimal levy rate is significantly higher than the actual rate adopted by the chinese government for example the optimal levy rate should be 4 92 rmb kg while the actual rate is 1 26 rmb kg in 2010 as a result the actual emission structure is much less efficient the overall cost savings would be 49 7 for all three sectors during 2006 2010 if the optimal emission structure is achieved these findings have useful policy implications for the chinese government in addition the method may be applied to analyze control policies at different aggregate levels for example provincial economies or for other pollutants for example co 2 and chemical oxygen demand

emissions variability in tradable permit markets with imperfect enforcement and banking abstract in this laboratory experiment on emissions trading subjects face exogenous random emissions shocks after making production and emission control plans in some sessions subjects can bank their unused permits for future use after a reconciliation trading period following the shock realization subjects report their emissions to the regulatory authority and are placed in different inspection groups depending on their compliance history we identify important interactions between banking compliance and enforcement banking smoothes out the price variability arising from imperfect emissions control price stability comes at a cost however since noncompliance and emissions are significantly greater when banking is allowed

liberalization of agricultural input markets in bangladesh process impact and lessons abstract the study takes a historical perspective to trace the path of evolutionary reforms in agricultural input markets of bangladesh it estimates the magnitude of the impact of these reforms on rice production the most important crop in bangladesh agriculture it is estimated that the production of rice could have been 20 32 lower than the level of 1992 1993 depending on the rice price that would have prevailed under alternative scenarios the 20 credit to market reform relates to a real rice price level 19 higher than the actual 1992 1993 prices the 32 credit to reform relates to the actual 1992 1993 price levels the lower contribution of reform 20 to increased production implies a loss to consumers not accounted for in the production benefit of reform while the higher contribution 32 of reform entails no loss to consumers the bottom line conclusion is that bangladesh without the market reforms described in the paper would have reverted back to the situation of regular food crisis and high rice prices as was the case historically the analysis of the process of reform provides interesting lessons for developing countries a gradual process based on a well designed sequencing of various steps of market reform particularly in the case of fertilizer was a crucial factor for success careful monitoring during the period of transition is another crucial factor that has to be institutionalized in the system second generation problems of market reforms particularly the emergence of an oligopolistic market structure are possible and warrant a cautionary watch

food scare crises and price volatility the case of the bse in spain abstract recent incidents of contaminated food products coupled with the widespread diffusion of news by mass media and the growing social concerns about food safety have resulted in significant food market crises one of the most highly publicized recent food scares involved bovine spongiform encephalopathy bse in our analysis we evaluate the impacts from a bse outbreak on the price volatility transmission along the spanish food marketing chain by using a smooth transition conditional correlation stcc garch model our work is the first to assess price volatility responses to food scares results suggest that two distinct regimes involving different price volatility behavior can be distinguished one characterized by turbulent markets and another where markets are calming down

emissions trading with shares and coupons when control over discharges is uncertain abstract two important decisions in designing markets for tradable emissions permits are whether to allow banking of permits coupons and whether to allow trading in entitlements to future permits shares banking is predicted to reduce price instability when firms trade in a reconciliation market after the quantity of emissions has been determined tradable shares are a common feature in proposals for emissions trading in canada we conduct a laboratory experiment to investigate how bankable coupons and tradable shares affect efficiency and prices under uncertainty cognitive demands on the subjects are reduced by computerized advice on the optimal allocation of coupons across periods and the implied marginal values of coupons and shares banking share trading and uncertainty conditions are introduced in a complete factorial design with three observations per cell high efficiencies are observed across all treatments uncertainty in the control of emissions leads to substantial price instability when banking is not allowed banking virtually eliminates the instability but reduces the efficiency of the market institution share trading reduces trading volumes increases price stability and improves efficiency

the market for sulfur dioxide emissions the 1990 clean air act amendments initiated the first large scale use of the tradable permit approach to pollution control the theoretical case for this approach rests on the assumption of an efficient market for emission rights the authors empirical analysis shows that the emission rights market created by the 1990 amendments had become reasonably efficient by mid 1994 they also show that the auctions specified in the amendments to jump start trading had become a small part of the overall market finally the authors demonstrate that the strategic bidding behavior discussed in the literature has had no effect on market prices copyright 1998 by american economic association

price transmission and asymmetric adjustment in the u s beef sector the u s livestock sector has experienced numerous structural changes in recent years for example the meatpacking industry has experienced many mergers and acquisitions leading to significant increases in industry concentration in particular the four firm concentration ratio for steer and heifer slaughter a frequently cited statistic and an important indicator of industry concentration increased from 35 7 in 1980 to 79 8 in 1997 usda there have also been significant regional shifts in livestock production and changes in marketing practices with decreased use of public markets in many areas for some products traditional auction markets have been largely replaced by contract production and sales cattle inventories have also trended downward over the last two decades this has been accompanied by decreases in the number of producers and in some cases with significant increases in the scale of operations the vertical transmission of shocks among various levels of the market is an important characteristic describing the overall operation of the market of course price is the primary mechanism by which various levels of the market are linked the extent of adjustment and speed with which shocks are transmitted among producer wholesale and retail market prices is an important factor reflecting the actions of market participants at alternative market levels the nature speed and extent of adjustments to market shocks may also have important implications for marketing margins spreads and mark up pricing practices an extensive literature has examined mar

a fresh meat almost ideal demand system incorporating negative tv press and advertising impact abstract this paper investigates fresh meat consumption in belgium during 1995 1998 through the specification of a three equation almost ideal demand system aids incorporating a media index of tv coverage and advertising expenditures as explanatory variables estimated parameters and elasticity coefficients are plausible and consistent with demand theory own price elasticities are relatively low indicating a low fresh meat demand sensitivity to price changes over this period which was dominated by mass media reports about the potential health risks associated with meat consumption the scope of the paper extends beyond the estimation of elasticity coefficients and includes the specification of a media index and simulations that provide insights into the impact of negative press relative to advertising efforts specifically the impact of television publicity is shown to have been particularly negative on beef veal expenditures in favour of pork mixture this finding corroborates expectations since mass media issues mainly pertained to bse mad cow disease and hormone residues during the investigated period with relatively little effort being undertaken and with its current strategy fresh meat advertising is found to have only a minor impact compared with negative press

food scare crises and developing countries the impact of avian influenza on vertical price transmission in the egyptian poultry sector abstract a bivariate smooth transition vector error correction model is applied to monthly poultry price data to analyze the effects that avian influenza has had on price transmission along the egyptian poultry marketing chain in order to reflect consumer awareness of the crisis an avian influenza food scare information index is developed and used within the model as a transition variable our results suggest that price adjustments to deviations from the market equilibrium parity depend on the magnitude of the avian influenza crisis further these adjustments are found to have very different implications for market equilibrium during the crisis retailers use their market power to increase marketing margins in contrast wholesaler margins are found to decline results also suggest that food safety information indices contribute to understanding the economic effects of food scare crises in developing countries

price transmission and asymmetric adjustment in the spanish dairy sector asymmetric threshold vector error correction models are applied to monthly price data to analyse price relationships and patterns of transmission among farm and retail markets for a variety of dairy products in spain the results suggest that asymmetries affect a conspicuous part of the raw milk processed in spain implications for the organizational structure of spanish dairy markets are offered

effectiveness of fluid milk advertising since the dairy and tobacco adjustment act of 1983 an econometric model pooling monthly cross sectional and time series data is estimated to measure the impact of national and regional generic fluid milk advertising the estimated model shows that the effectiveness of advertising has increased since the implementation of the dairy adjustment act gains in fluid milk sales attributed to milk advertising are estimated sales gains for both the pre and post act periods are shown along with the gains associated with parameter changes in the post act periods marginal advertising responses are derived

hotelling confronts capm a test of the theory of exhaustible resources a model of pricing of natural resource commodities that integrates financial and product markets is derived and tested the model unifies two strands of the economic and financial literature one that builds on the hotelling model of pricing of exhaustible resources and the other that extends the capital asset pricing model of pricing risky assets tests of the predictions make use of a cost function that was estimated from a panel of small canadian copper mines young 1992 the authors tests fail to reject the theoretical restrictions that are implied by the hotelling capital asset pricing model

spatial market integration in the presence of threshold effects a large body of research has evaluated price linkages in spatially separate markets much recent research has applied models appropriate for nonstationary data such analyses have been criticized for their ignorance of transactions costs which may inhibit price adjustments and thus affect tests of integration this analysis utilizes threshold autoregression and cointegration models to account for a neutral band representing transactions costs we evaluate daily price linkages among four corn and four soybean markets in north carolina nonlinear impulse response functions are used to investigate dynamic patterns of adjustments to shocks our results confirm the presence of thresholds and indicate strong support for market integration though adjustments following shocks may take many days to be complete in every case the threshold models suggest much faster adjustments in response to deviations from equilibrium than is the case when threshold behavior is ignored a large amount of empirical research has evaluated the extent to which spatially separate markets are integrated though the term is used loosely in the literature tests of market integration usually consider the extent to which shocks are transmitted among spatially separate markets the integration of markets can have important implications for price discovery and the operation of the market since persistent deviations from integration may imply riskless profit opportunities for spatial traders

the impact of food scares on price adjustment in the uk beef market abstract this paper considers the impact of food scares predominately concerns relating to bse on uk beef prices at retail wholesale and producer levels over the 1990s acknowledging the co movement that exists between prices in the meat marketing chain we use a co integrating framework the results of which show the importance of publicity regarding the safety of food in the transmission of beef prices in the uk the food publicity index that we use has a marked negative impact on the prices at all levels a result that is consistent with the effect of an inward shift in the demand function moreover the extent of price decline varies between the marketing stages entailing that the price spreads rise in response to an increase in the negative publicity about food safety while not a formal test of market power these observations are consistent with recent theoretical results demonstrating that market power exacerbates price changes in the upstream sectors for a given change in the retail demand function the implication of these varying price changes is that the food safety concerns also cause the marketing margins between the stages to widen the uk s competition commission has recently investigated the abuse of market power in the food sector inspired largely by this specific issue