SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Jackson, Thomas E.; Irwin, Scott H.; Good, Darrel L..

The purpose of this research report is to present an evaluation of advisory service pricing performance in 1997 for corn and soybeans. Specifically, the average price received by a subscriber to an advisory service is calculated for corn and soybean crops harvested in 1997. The average net advisory price across all 23 corn programs is $2.32 per bushel. The net advisory prices for corn range from a minimum of $2.00 per bushel to a maximum of $2.74 per bushel. The average net advisory price across all 21 soybean programs is $6.40 per bushel. The net advisory prices for soybeans range from a minimum of $6.08 per bushel to a maximum of $6.99 per bushel.

Policy, Federalism, and Regulating Broadband Internet Access

Palavras-chave: Evaluation of advisory services; Pricing performance; Soybeans; C8; D4; D8; L1; M3; Q0; Z0; Marketing.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/14780

Brennan, Timothy J..

Following recent telecommunications mergers, local (mostly municipal and county) governments and the federal government are fighting over who should determine whether cable television systems must make their facilities available to unaffiliated providers of high-speed ("broadband") Internet service. This intergovernmental dispute is only the latest in a series of such clashes regarding competition and communications policy. A brief review of the policy suggests that substantively, local open-access requirements are not yet warranted. However, the economics of federalism, primarily that the relevant markets are local, indicates that local governments should have the right to choose these policies, perhaps erroneously. Federal preemption could prevent...

Location Choices of Multinational Firms: The Case of Mergers and Acquisitions

Palavras-chave: Federalism; Internet; Regulation; Vertical integration; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; H1; L5; L1.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10823

Bertrand, Olivier; Mucchielli, Jean-Louis; Zitouna, Habib.

This article examines the location choices of cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) between OECD members´ firms in the 1990`s. In addition to traditional determinants of FDI, we estimate the impact of specific factors affecting the M&A location pattern. Two distinct econometric methods are implemented: the conditional logit and the count model (Poisson or negative binomial model). In spite of the use of alternative econometric methods, we find that the supply of target firms (captured by market capitalization and privatization activity) constrains the location of M&A. However, is it not the only determinant of location: market size, labor costs, market access and financial openness play a positive and significant role on the M&A...

Firm Size Distribution and Performance of Maize and Fertilizer Traders After Market Liberalisation: Evidence from Kenya

Palavras-chave: Foreign Direct Investment; Merger and Acquisition; Location; Conditional logit; Count model; Industrial Organization; International Relations/Trade; F23; L1; R3.

Ano: 2004

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/26170

Mose, Lawrence Obae; Burger, Kees.

Improvement in the performance of agricultural markets was the ultimate goal of market liberalisation. In this paper, firm (trader) size distribution as a factor influencing market performance is analyzed using maize and fertilizer traders from Kenya. Firm size distribution was assessed by analyzing the normality of the distribution on volume traded. Performance was assessed by the level of competition (using Hirschman-Herfindahl index), marketing margins and marketing costs. Results show that firm size distribution for both commodities is log-normally distributed but positively skewed indicating a tendency towards smaller than larger firms. A plausible explanation is that faced with inadequate financial resources and inadequate business experience, new...

Price Transmission and Marketing Margins in the Slovenian Beef and Pork Markets During Transition

Palavras-chave: Liberalisation; Firm size distribution; Costs; Margins; Agribusiness; International Relations/Trade; D4; L1; Q12; Q13; Q18.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25533

Bojnec, Stefan.

As in many other transition countries processing and marketing margins are also larger in the Slovenian meat market than respective margins in market economies. In addition, margin of the Slovenian pork chain is greater than in the beef chain. Its decline in the pork market indicates an adjustment to more competitive markets. Co-integration models are applied to estimate vertical price transmission and to examine margins and degree of competition in the meat marketing chains. Results indicate the existence of a long run equilibrium regarding vertical price transmission in the beef and pork sectors. Both the farm-gate beef and pork prices are identified as weakly exogenous in the long run. The structural tests imposing a homogeneity restriction suggest a...

Grocery Retailer Pricing Behavior for California Avocados with Implications for Industry Promotion Strategies

Palavras-chave: Price transmission; Marketing margin; Co-integration; Competition; Marketing; D4; L1; C3; Q1.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/24789

Li, Lan; Carman, Hoy F.; Sexton, Richard J..

Rising concentration and consolidation of sales among large supermarket chains in the U.S. and other countries, due in part to a recent wave of mergers in food retailing, have made retailers' role in the food industry a topical issue. Using a unique micro dataset, this paper investigates retailer pricing issues for avocados, a key California specialty commodity, and analyzes the implications of retailer pricing behavior for the effectiveness of avocado industry advertising programs. The methodologies developed and the results achieved in this study should have broad applications across the produce sector, the food industry, and the grocery retail market. We find that retail prices for avocados are highly dispersed both spatially and temporarily. The...

Quality Provision and Farmer Inclusion of Agricultural Cooperatives

Palavras-chave: F13; L1; L81; Q1; Q13; Demand and Price Analysis; Marketing.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25494

Yu, Jianyu.

The paper aims to analyze the quality provision and inclusion of farmers by a farmer-owned cooperative (co-op) when it competes with an investor-owned firm (IOF). A model of mixed oligopsonistic competition is developed to capture the endogenous participation of farmers who are heterogeneous in their efficiency to provide quality. The results highlight an advantage of the co-op: by imposing a similar quality standard to the one imposed by the IOF, the co-op may drive the IOF out of the market. Due to this advantage, it is more likely that the co-op will set a high quality standard when the minimum quality standard is costly to farmers. This advantage, however, may induce an inefficient outcome if providing a high quality product involves a high fixed cost.

PUBLIC POLICY IN VERTICALLY RELATED MARKETS: A COURNOT OLIGOPOLY-OLIGOPSONY MODEL

Palavras-chave: Agricultural cooperative; Mixed oligopsonistic competition; Farmer inclusion; Quality standard; Agribusiness; Industrial Organization; Q12; Q13; L1; L2.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51553

Desquilbet, Marion; Guyomard, Herve.

We use a partial equilibrium two-country model, with two vertically related markets, with perfect competition in the primary good sector and with a fixed number of processing firms in each country, characterized by a Cournot behavior upstream and downstream. In the first stage of the game, the government of the exporting country chooses the level of price instruments on both goods. The targeting principle is used to characterize optimal intervention in presence of a minimum revenue constraint towards primary producers. Keywords: vertically related markets, imperfect

Alternative Model Selection Using Forecast Error Variance Decompositions in Wholesale Chicken Markets

Palavras-chave: Vertically related markets; Imperfect competition; Industrial Organization; International Relations/Trade; F1; H2; L1; Q1.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/21561

McKenzie, Andrew M.; Goodwin, Harold L., Jr.; Carreira, Rita I..

Although Vector Autoregressive models are commonly used to forecast prices, specification of these models remains an issue. Questions that arise include choice of variables and lag length. This article examines the use of Forecast Error Variance Decompositions to guide the econometrician’s model specification. Forecasting performance of Variance Autoregressive models, generated from Forecast Error Variance Decompositions, is analyzed within wholesale chicken markets. Results show that the Forecast Error Variance Decomposition approach has the potential to provide superior model selections to traditional Granger Causality tests.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Broiler markets; DAGs; Forecasting; Market structure; VAR; Agribusiness; Demand and Price Analysis; Livestock Production/Industries; Risk and Uncertainty; C53; D4; L1; Q00.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/48750

Competition Issues in the Seed Industry and the Role of Intellectual Property

The Biotechnology Sector: "Bounds" to Market Structure

Moschini, GianCarlo.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Crop Production/Industries; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; L1; L4; O3; Q1.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/94757

Sheldon, Ian M..

This paper examines whether it makes sense to consider Sutton's "bounds" approach as a candidate theory for explaining the recent evolution of market structure in the biotechnology sector, and to speculate whether market structure will change if the industry begins to introduce second-generation GM products that are of more direct benefit to consumers. A key result is that the market structure is bounded in the presence of endogenous sunk costs, implying care should be taken when inferring any correlation between R&D expenditure and seller concentration in the biotechnology sector.

Expected Utility Analysis of Stocker Cattle Ownership Versus Contract Grazing in the Southeast

Palavras-chave: Biotechnology; Market structure; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; L1; L11.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/6078

Anderson, John D.; Lacy, Curt; Forrest, Charlie S.; Little, Randall D..

Stocker cattle ownership is compared to contract grazing using stochastic simulation. Returns are evaluated for both cattle owners and caretakers in contract grazing agreements. For caretakers, contract grazing is significantly less risky than cattle ownership. Slightly to moderately risk-averse caretakers could be expected to prefer some type of contract grazing to direct ownership of cattle. For cattle owners, contracting reduces risk only slightly while significantly reducing expected returns.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Contracts; Expected utility; Grazing; Stocker calves; Q0; L1.

Ano: 2004

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/43471

TRANSPORTING THE EXPORT-BOUND GRAIN BY RAIL: A STUDY OF MARKET INTEGRATION

Miljkovic, Dragan.

This study addresses the issues of market integration in railroad industry analyzing the export-bound grain transportation. A spatial analysis involving four origin states (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska) and two destinations (Mexican Gulf and Pacific Northwest) is conducted in order to determine if pricing practices by the same or different railroads in different regions are consistent. A system of structural equations is estimated and dynamic regression tests are conducted because of the dynamic nature of interregional trade and arbitrage activities. The results indicate that grain transportation market by rail is not perfectly integrated. This is primarily due to numerous mergers and combining of railroads that took place during the last twenty...

Tomato Wars: A Discussion of How International Trade, Structural Changes, and Competitiveness Affect the North American Produce Industry

Palavras-chave: Grain transportation; Market integration; Railroad industry; International Relations/Trade; D4; L1; L9.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/29236

Chinese and U.S. Apple Trade in ASEAN

Estes, Edmund A..

The demand for a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, including fresh market tomatoes, has increased significantly over the past decade because of greater convenience in use, improved selection, and rising health and diet concerns. As U.S. demand for tomatoes and other horticultural crops strengthens, inexperienced domestic and international suppliers believe they can compete effectively within U.S. markets. Free trade agreements have reduced monetary barriers to trade, but remaining impediments, such as institutional and competitive market constraints, represent significant challenges for southern U.S. growers. This paper discusses points addressed by VanSickle, Eastwood, and Woods concerning trade and horticultural market development.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Fruits; Marketing; NAFTA; Trade; Vegetables; F1; L1; L2; Q17; R3.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/43207

Luckstead, Jeff; Devadoss, Stephen; Mittelhammer, Ronald C..

We investigate oligopolistic competition between U.S. and Chinese apple exporters in the ASEAN market using strategic trade theory and the NEIO literature. We also analyze competition in the U.S. and Chinese domestic markets. U.S. supplies higher quality apples to ASEAN than China, resulting in product differentiation. The results show that U.S. exporters had a higher markup than Chinese exporters through the 1990s; however, as the share of Chinese apples expanded, the U.S. markup declined and the Chinese markup increased dramatically. Competitive pricing prevails both in the U.S. and Chinese domestic markets.

Tipo: Presentation

Palavras-chave: Apple Trade; Market Power; ASEAN; Conjectural Elasticity; Industrial Organization; International Relations/Trade; F13; L1.

Ano: 2012

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/124372

Grain Distribution in Ghana under Imperfectly Competitive Market Conditions

Langyintuo, Augustine S..

Interspatial and intertemporal grain distribution in Ghana is a private sector activity carried out mainly by traders. These traders sometimes collude to maximize their joint profits. By so doing they influence the conduct of the grains market. To examine the effect of their actions on the informal maize market in Ghana, a spatial equilibrium model was estimated under three scenarios: (1) Perfect competition, (2) Cournot-Narsh conjectures, and (3) Collusion. The results indicate that imperfect competition distorts grain flows, reduces consumer welfare and depresses traders’ sales revenue. Collusive behavior of traders, on the other hand, causes the greatest distortion of grain flows as well as trader and consumer welfare. These results draw attention to...

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Spatial equilibrium; Monopoly; Imperfect competition; Interspatial; Cournot- Narsh conjectures; Crop Production/Industries; D4; L1.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/96166

Pay-At-The-Pump (PATP) Auto Insurance: Criticisms and Proposed Modifications

Khazzoom, J. Daniel.

In 1998 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsored an effort to examine the criticisms and concerns expressed about Pay-at-the-Pump (PATP) auto insurance and explore the reformulation of PATP, taking into account these concerns. This paper provides a brief exposition of PATP and its main advantages followed by a review of its criticisms and concerns. We outline a reconstituted PATP proposal emerging from the review of these criticisms: a hybrid system that merges the best features from PATP and the existing insurance system. It retains what is consistent with the free market operation and market incentive in the existing system. At the same time it restores the price signal, the sine qua non for economic efficiency, where it has been extinguished...

Too Connected to Fail: The Effect of Alliance Network Structure on Farm Survival

Palavras-chave: Pay at the pump; Distance-based insurance; Efficient pricing of auto insurance; Conversion of fixed to variable cost; Loss on insuring the uninsured motorist; Pay at the pump and the poor; Environmental benefit of pay at the pump; Vehicle fuel-efficiency and safety; Vehicle miles traveled; Traffic density; Accident risk; Public Economics; L1; L5; L8; L9; M2; Q2; Q4; R4.

Ano: 2000

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10811

Kirwan, Barrett E.; Martens, Andrea.

Exogenous, unobserved factors often confound the effects of alliance networks. More capable farmers might be less likely to exit and more likely to have a large number of alliances. In this case the negative correlation between alliance network size and exit likelihood is due to the unobserved confounder--farmer ability--not the effect of network size on exit likelihood. Recognizing the endogeneity of alliance network size when determining a farm’s survival likelihood, we employ an empirical model that accounts for the bias caused by unobserved effects. We account for time-invariant unobserved effects with individual fixed effects. We control for county-level confounding factors with a time-varying county effect. Finally, we address unobserved,...

Dynamic Strategic Behaviour in the Deregulated England and Wales Liquid Milk Market

Palavras-chave: Networks; Alliances; Agriculture; Policy; Organizational structure; Industrial organization; Finance; Entrepreneurship; Agribusiness; Agricultural and Food Policy; Agricultural Finance; Farm Management; Financial Economics; Industrial Organization; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Risk and Uncertainty; L1; L14; L26; Q1; Q14; Q18.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/103573

Tiffin, J. Richard.

A model of dynamic oligopsony is estimated for the liquid milk market in the UK. The paper extends existing methods of estimating such models by allowing for the joint estimation of the market conduct equation and the input supply equation. This entails the estimation of a two equation model in which the parameters of one equation change between two regimes whilst those of the other do not. Our results provide little evidence of dynamic strategic behaviour and suggest that the farm-gate price of milk is determined competitively.

Evaluating the Competitive Effects of the Commodity Groups Originated by Class I Railroads in the United States

Palavras-chave: Livestock Production/Industries; Marketing; D4; L1; Q13.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25282

Allen, Albert J.; Myles, Albert E.; Shaik, Saleem; Yeboah, Osei-Agyeman.

Dynamic shift-share analysis reveals that national growth effects were positive while industrial mix, competitive, and allocation effects were negative. Results also show the time(technology) variable were significantly and positively related to the competitive effects for coal, chemical products, food products, nonmetallic products, petroleum products, metallic ores, and other products.