Price Distortion (price + distortion)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


CAP Reform in the Dairy Sector: Remove Export Subsidies and Retain Milk Quota

EUROCHOICES, Issue 2 2004
Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache
Summary CAP Reform in the Dairy Sector: Remove Export Subsidies and Retain Milk Quota The reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy of June 2003 introduced major policy changes, In the dairy sector the aim is to decrease price distortions between the EU and world dairy markets through successive reductions in milk intervention prices. However, the milk quota system is still in place and successive increases in milk quotas are planned. The question is whether these dairy reforms are going in the right direction given the three main characteristics of the EU dairy sector. First the price inelasticity of both milk supply (due to quota) and domestic demand means that price distortion mainly affects the distribution of economic surplus between consumers and producers but does not generate significant net losses in economic welfare. Second, the ,large country' position of the EU on the world market means that the EU should remove all export subsidies, which will reduce EU exports and increase world prices. Third, the projected increase in EU aggregate demand for milk favours a reduction in all subsidies. The CAP is going in the right direction in the dairy sector. But to reduce price distortions all subsidies should be removed as soon as possible and the milk production quota should be retained. La réforme de la PAC laitiére: supprimer les subventions aux exportations et conserver les quotas La réforme de la PAC en juin 2003 est un changement majeur. En ce qui concerne le secteur laitier, l'idée consiste à diminuer les distorsions entre les prix européens et ceux du marché mondial par une série de réductions progressives du prix d'intervention. En même temps, le système des quotas reste en place et des accroissements progressifs sont envisageés pour les droits à produire. La question. est alors de savoir si une telle politique est bien orientée, compte tenu des trois caractéristiques principales du secteur laitier européen. En premier lieu, la faible élasticité-prix aussi bien de l'offre (à cause des quotas) que de la demande, implique que les distorsions, si elies affectent la répartition des bénéfices entre producteurs et consommateurs, ne génèrent pas de très grandes pertes sociales au niveau du bien-être global. Ensuite, l'importance de l'Union européenne sur les marchés mondiaux implique que l'UE doive réduire ses subventions à l'exportation, ce qui diminuera le volume des exportations et en fera remonter le prix, Enfin, l'accroissement prévisible de la demande globale européenne en produits laitiers devrait conduire G une réduction des subventions de toute sorte. La PAC est done sur la bonne voie en matière laitière. Mais pour réduire les distorsions, il faut le plus vite possible supprimer les subventions et conserver les quotas laitiers. Reform der GAP im Milchsektor: Abschaffung der Exportsubventionen und Beibehaltung der Milchquoten Die Reform der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik vom Juni 2003 führt zu erheblichen Politikänderungen. Im Milchsektor ist das Ziel, die Preisverzerrungen zwischen der EU und den Weltmärkten für Milchprodukte durch eine sukzessive Reduzierung der Milchinterventionspreise zu verringern. Das Milchquotensystem bleibt jedoch weiter bestehen und sukzessive Erhöhungen der Milchquoten sind geplant. Es ergibt sich die Frage, ob die Reform bei den vorhandenen drei Charakteristika im EU Milchsektor in die richtige Richtung geht. Erstens bedeuten das gegebene preisunelastische Angebot von Milch (wegen der Quotierung) und die Nachfrage im Inland, dass die Preisverzerrung sich vomehmlich auf die Verteilung der ökonomischen Rente zwischen Konsumenten und Produzenten auswirkt, nicht aber zu bedeutenden Wohlfahrtsverlusten führt. Zweitens fuhrt die Abschaffung aller Exporterstattungen für Milch und Milchprodukte dazu, dass die EU Exporte sinken und damit wegen der EU als relative großes Land die Weltmarktpreise für Milch steigen werden. Drittens begünstigt die vorausgesagte Zunahme in der aggregierten Milchnachfrage in der EU eine Reduzierung aller Subventionen. Die GAP entwickelt sich im Milchsektor in die richtige Richtung. Es sollten aber alle Subventionen so schnell wie möglich abgebaut und die Milchquote sollte aufrechterhalten werden, um Preisverzerrungen zu reduzieren. [source]


Optimal pricing strategy for foreign market entry: a game theoretic approach

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 8 2006
Young-Han Kim
Given that pricing plays an important role in a company's international competitive strategy, researchers have long argued the need for theory building in the area of international pricing. This study develops an optimal pricing strategy for foreign market entry using a game theoretic framework. The proposed model assumes two firms, a local incumbent and a foreign entrant, competing in a market. Consumers know the quality of the incumbent's offering, but do not know how it compares to that of the foreign entrant's. Based on these assumptions, and using the theory of inference making, we propose an upward price distortion by the entrant firm as an optimal entry strategy under incomplete information. The paper presents a game theoretic derivation to establish that the game has a unique intuitive separating equilibrium where the entrant firm stands to gain by engaging in upward price distortion to signal high quality to consumers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Impacts of Food and Energy Price Hikes and Proposed Coping Strategies

CHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 6 2008
Ling Zhu
F01; Q13; Q41 Abstract Based on sample survey data for the years 2006 and 2007, we find that inflation of food and energy prices in China is moving at a slower pace than in the international market; however, the livelihood of low income groups has been significantly impacted. Urban sample households in low income groups have been shifting from consumption of high value food to lower value substitutes; and all of the rural sample households are reducing their total consumption expenditure in real terms. The Engel's coefficient of the rural household enlarged while their proportion of spending on clothing and energy declined. Farmers' households are moving toward more imbalanced diets, and the nutritional status of the poor is apparently deteriorating. The emergency-response measures that the government should implement include stopping subsidies to biofuel producers, who use foodstuffs as inputs, and providing food aid to the poor. The mid-term strategies should include anti-monopoly tactics, improving the market environment for the right competition, and eliminating price distortion. Midterm and long-term socioeconomic policy reform must be undertaken to adjust the social structure, to correct the mechanism of factor price formation, and to transform the pattern of economic growth. [source]


CAP Reform in the Dairy Sector: Remove Export Subsidies and Retain Milk Quota

EUROCHOICES, Issue 2 2004
Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache
Summary CAP Reform in the Dairy Sector: Remove Export Subsidies and Retain Milk Quota The reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy of June 2003 introduced major policy changes, In the dairy sector the aim is to decrease price distortions between the EU and world dairy markets through successive reductions in milk intervention prices. However, the milk quota system is still in place and successive increases in milk quotas are planned. The question is whether these dairy reforms are going in the right direction given the three main characteristics of the EU dairy sector. First the price inelasticity of both milk supply (due to quota) and domestic demand means that price distortion mainly affects the distribution of economic surplus between consumers and producers but does not generate significant net losses in economic welfare. Second, the ,large country' position of the EU on the world market means that the EU should remove all export subsidies, which will reduce EU exports and increase world prices. Third, the projected increase in EU aggregate demand for milk favours a reduction in all subsidies. The CAP is going in the right direction in the dairy sector. But to reduce price distortions all subsidies should be removed as soon as possible and the milk production quota should be retained. La réforme de la PAC laitiére: supprimer les subventions aux exportations et conserver les quotas La réforme de la PAC en juin 2003 est un changement majeur. En ce qui concerne le secteur laitier, l'idée consiste à diminuer les distorsions entre les prix européens et ceux du marché mondial par une série de réductions progressives du prix d'intervention. En même temps, le système des quotas reste en place et des accroissements progressifs sont envisageés pour les droits à produire. La question. est alors de savoir si une telle politique est bien orientée, compte tenu des trois caractéristiques principales du secteur laitier européen. En premier lieu, la faible élasticité-prix aussi bien de l'offre (à cause des quotas) que de la demande, implique que les distorsions, si elies affectent la répartition des bénéfices entre producteurs et consommateurs, ne génèrent pas de très grandes pertes sociales au niveau du bien-être global. Ensuite, l'importance de l'Union européenne sur les marchés mondiaux implique que l'UE doive réduire ses subventions à l'exportation, ce qui diminuera le volume des exportations et en fera remonter le prix, Enfin, l'accroissement prévisible de la demande globale européenne en produits laitiers devrait conduire G une réduction des subventions de toute sorte. La PAC est done sur la bonne voie en matière laitière. Mais pour réduire les distorsions, il faut le plus vite possible supprimer les subventions et conserver les quotas laitiers. Reform der GAP im Milchsektor: Abschaffung der Exportsubventionen und Beibehaltung der Milchquoten Die Reform der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik vom Juni 2003 führt zu erheblichen Politikänderungen. Im Milchsektor ist das Ziel, die Preisverzerrungen zwischen der EU und den Weltmärkten für Milchprodukte durch eine sukzessive Reduzierung der Milchinterventionspreise zu verringern. Das Milchquotensystem bleibt jedoch weiter bestehen und sukzessive Erhöhungen der Milchquoten sind geplant. Es ergibt sich die Frage, ob die Reform bei den vorhandenen drei Charakteristika im EU Milchsektor in die richtige Richtung geht. Erstens bedeuten das gegebene preisunelastische Angebot von Milch (wegen der Quotierung) und die Nachfrage im Inland, dass die Preisverzerrung sich vomehmlich auf die Verteilung der ökonomischen Rente zwischen Konsumenten und Produzenten auswirkt, nicht aber zu bedeutenden Wohlfahrtsverlusten führt. Zweitens fuhrt die Abschaffung aller Exporterstattungen für Milch und Milchprodukte dazu, dass die EU Exporte sinken und damit wegen der EU als relative großes Land die Weltmarktpreise für Milch steigen werden. Drittens begünstigt die vorausgesagte Zunahme in der aggregierten Milchnachfrage in der EU eine Reduzierung aller Subventionen. Die GAP entwickelt sich im Milchsektor in die richtige Richtung. Es sollten aber alle Subventionen so schnell wie möglich abgebaut und die Milchquote sollte aufrechterhalten werden, um Preisverzerrungen zu reduzieren. [source]


Mixed tree-vegetative barrier designs: experiences from project works in northern Vietnam

LAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2002
A. Fahlén
Abstract There has been an increased interest in the use of vegetative barriers in acid-infertile upland management systems in Southeast Asia. This paper analyses the experimental designs and policies in early-1990s of using vetiver grass barriers (Vetiveria zizanioides L.) in microwatersheds with short-rotation tree plantations in Vinh Phu Province, Vietnam. Four different mixed tree-vetiver models on degraded Ferric-Plinthic Acrisols are discussed. It is concluded that the institutional approach of demonstrating vetiver barriers as a model had a poor cost-wise performance, and that the model itself did not address the underlying issues of land degradation due to uncontrolled harvest of organic matter from the forest floors. The institutional approach was tainted with price distortions and ,disbursement-oriented' actions. Alternative and more flexible on-farm approaches, using V. zizanioides or the indigenous leguminous shrub Tephrosia candida (Roxb.) DC as vegetative barriers, were found to be more cost-effective and likely to have a higher rate of adoption among farmers. The institutional changes in land allocation policies (securing long-term usufruct users and transfer rights of agricultural and forest land) that took place in Vietnam in the early 1990s, in combination with a reorientation of programme policies to support needs of individuals and farmers' households, are hypothesized to have contributed more to the ,regreening' of the hills, than any single approaches of technical barrier designs by the Swedish-Vietnamese Forestry Co-operation Programme (FCP) in northern Vietnam. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Presidential Address: Asset Price Dynamics with Slow-Moving Capital

THE JOURNAL OF FINANCE, Issue 4 2010
DARRELL DUFFIE
ABSTRACT I describe asset price dynamics caused by the slow movement of investment capital to trading opportunities. The pattern of price responses to supply or demand shocks typically involves a sharp reaction to the shock and a subsequent and more extended reversal. The amplitude of the immediate price impact and the pattern of the subsequent recovery can reflect institutional impediments to immediate trade, such as search costs for trading counterparties or time to raise capital by intermediaries. I discuss special impediments to capital formation during the recent financial crisis that caused asset price distortions, which subsided afterward. After presenting examples of price reactions to supply shocks in normal market settings, I offer a simple illustrative model of price dynamics associated with slow-moving capital due to the presence of inattentive investors. [source]