Inflation,price stops and price controls

It has been quite obvious for several years already that the attempts to achieve the aim of price stability are running into the greatest difficulties. While the rates of inflation are escalating in almost all countries, it is becoming increasingly clear at the same time that the authorities endeavouring to stabilise the level of prices are faced by problems of great complexity.     

供应商试水电视购物

作为流通领域的后起之秀,电视购物在韩国和一些西方国家已经成为可以和大商场、减价超市竞争的“第三势力”,韩国商界把电视销售的崛起称之为在大型减价超市出现后的又一次“流通革命”。     

Low price guarantees as signals of lowest price: The moderating role of perceived price dispersion

This article presents two experimental studies examining the effects of a low price guarantee on consumers’ pre-purchase evaluations and behavioral intentions. The authors first examine how the effects of a low price guarantee are moderated by consumer perception of market price dispersion. The results show that low price guarantee effects are likely to be attenuated when consumers perceive market price dispersion for a product to be high. The second study shows that higher levels of penalty can help restore a low price guarantee's effectiveness. Specifically, a low price guarantee with progressively higher levels of penalty leads to incrementally more favorable effects on key consumer outcomes when perceived price dispersion is high. Interestingly, penalty level has no such incremental benefit in case of low perceived price dispersion. Theoretical and managerial implications of the authors’ findings, the limitations of the studies, and future research opportunities are discussed.     

我国玉米价格与生猪价格的传导关系研究

现以2015年1月到2020年9月生猪价格和玉米价格的月度数据为研究对象,运用E-G协整检验、格兰杰因果关系检验、脉冲响应、方差分解等方法进行分析。研究结果表明,生猪价格和玉米价格存在长期正相关的均衡关系,生猪价格对玉米价格有明显的拉动作用;短期内,玉米价格和生猪价格的相互影响具有时滞性。长期来看,当生猪价格受到冲击时,对玉米价格的影响作用相对较小;当玉米价格受到冲击时,对生猪价格的影响作用较大。建议保障玉米和生猪的供给,引导供需平衡;完善信息共享机制,及时传递相关信息。     

The impact of external reference price on consumer price expectations

Comparative pricing practices are frequently used where actual product prices are accompanied by higher external reference prices. All types of stores, regular-price department stores as well as discount stores, use comparative price claims to frame price deals as attractive [Marketing Science 4 (1985) 199]. In this paper, a quadratic model is specified for the impact of external reference price (ERP) on consumer price expectations. Based on the research on communication discrepancy and advertising claim discrepancy, which in turn draw on assimilation-contrast, attribution, and prospect theories, we hypothesize a quadratic effect of external reference prices on consumer price expectations. An interactive, computer-controlled experiment using multiple levels of ERP is used to estimate the proposed model. As hypothesized, support for an inverted U-shape relationship is found between consumers’ updated price expectations and the difference between ERP and initial price expectations. That is, as the difference between ERP and subjects’ initial price expectations increases, subjects’ updated price expectations increase to a point and then start to decrease. We find that the fit of the quadratic model specification for the effect of external reference price on price expectations is noticeably superior to that of linear, logarithmic, square root, and S-shaped specifications. Finally, we provide implications of our results for both retail managers and for regulatory authorities alike.     

Hidden price promotions: Could retailer price promotions backfire?

Hidden-price promotions, a type of uncertain price promotion in which the final price is not revealed when consumers first encounter the product, have been recently adopted by retailers. However, current research suggests that hidden-price promotions have the potential to backfire and result in reduced consumer purchase intention. Across seven studies, we reveal that hidden-price promotions can be effective but risk increasing discount expectations, as consumers expect a large discount. Only when the discount level meets or exceeds inflated expectations does the excitement built by the promotion positively impact purchase intention. For cognitive purchases, even without providing a high discount, hidden-price promotions are as effective as traditional ones. This research provides guidelines for retailers that want to employ hidden-price promotions.     

奢华的价格残杀

航空品牌的竞争,在某种程度上可以说是机票价格的竞争。机票价格从以往“高处不胜寒”,变得越来越“贴近”百姓,坐得起飞机的人越来越多,乘飞机出行已经褪去了豪华的外衣,开始进入寻常百姓家。     

Is the synthetic stock price really lower than actual price?

Conventional wisdom suggests synthetic stock prices are lower than actual prices due to short-sale constraints and voting premiums. This study finds that such underpricing of the synthetic midquote disappears if arbitrageurs face security borrowing costs. The synthetic spread predominantly contains the actual spread. Synthetic stock overpricing is as common as underpricing but the former is more persistent and more profitable. The difference between synthetic and actual quotes is significantly affected by options market makers' hedging costs and investors' demand for leverage.     

Effects of price uncertainty on consumer purchase budget and price thresholds

This article examines how uncertainty about prices affects: (1) the budget consumers allocate for purchasing a product and (2) consumer price thresholds (i.e., the prices that are considered too high or a good deal). In an experimental setting, the purchase budget as well as the absolute values of both thresholds for uncertain subjects were higher than those for certain subjects. Moreover, a relatively large decline from the budget was needed before a price was considered a good deal, whereas a relatively small increase from the budget was sufficient for a price to be considered too high. Price uncertainty widened the difference between the upper (i.e., too high) price threshold and the budget, making uncertain subjects more tolerant to prices exceeding the budget than certain subjects. However, price uncertainty did not have a significant effect on the difference between the budget and the lower (i.e., good deal) price threshold.We wish to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft. We also thank Professors S. P. Raj and Amiya Basu for their comments and suggestions at various stages of the study.     

Measuring the spatial price differences in China with regional price parity methods

The measurement of prices has been an important field in economics, and a spatial price index is very useful in comparing the standards of living and well-being across regions in a country. This paper intends to measure the regional price parities (RPPs) across different provincial areas in China with an urban sample of 140 goods and services in 2015 according to the framework of the International Comparison Program (ICP) methodology. The results show that the RPPs that were estimated with commonly used approaches, such as the Gini–Éltetö–Köves–Szulc (GEKS), Geary–Khamis (GK) and weighted country product dummy (WCPD), are only slightly different. The RPPs of three regions including Guangdong, Shanghai and Zhejiang are greater than 1 (with Beijing = 1), while the other 27 regions are all lower than 1, which represents price levels that are less than Beijing. In the extrapolation of the RPPs from 2000 to 2014, a significant descending trend is found for the standard deviation series of the RPPs over time that shows that the price differences across regions decreased during the extrapolating period. This finding provides evidence of a phenomenon of spatial price converging in China. Finally, a study on the deflation of provincial aggregates with the RPPs reveals that the spatial price adjustment will change the ranks or relative importance of different regions in the country. Especially, the measurement of income inequality proves that the Gini coefficients of provincial income deflated by the RPP^GEKS are all lower than the Gini coefficients of unadjusted incomes.     

粮食价格与居民消费价格水平联动效应研究

明晰粮食价格与居民消费价格水平之间的关系意义重大。基于1979—2020年中国粮食价格和居民消费价格水平年度数据,运用向量误差修正模型和Granger因果分析,对粮食价格与居民消费价格水平间的关系进行实证分析。结果表明:短期内,居民消费价格水平对粮食价格的影响远大于粮食价格对居民消费价格水平的影响,居民消费价格水平变动与粮食价格变动之间存在单向Granger因果关系;长期看,两者之间存在双向Granger因果关系。根据研究结论,提出了加强粮食价格和居民消费价格监测、稳定粮食价格水平、加大市场调控等对策建议。     

The price of copper

This article may be of particular interest in view of the fact that UNCTAD has now for the first time set down a schedule for preparatory negotiations on raw materials. The resolution of UNCTAD IV on the treatment of the integrated action programme for raw materials is now to be realised. Negotiations on copper will take place in Geneva between Sept. 9 and Oct. 10, 1976.     

Retail channel price discrimination

This paper examines price differentials of identical items across retail channels. Many consumer packaged goods are sold through both grocery and drug stores. Liquor is unique in that in much of the country there is a third retail channel of distribution, liquor stores. If consumers in each retail channel differ in their willingness to pay for certain items, then sellers can exploit those differences and charge different prices for the same items in each channel. We examine a unique data set of pooled cross sectional retail scanner data on wine to test whether sellers use retail channel to identify heterogeneous consumer market segments and engage in price discrimination. We begin by presenting a model of price discrimination by retail channel along with behavioural assumptions regarding shoppers in each channel. Next we examine sales by retail channel and find persistent price differentials for the same item across retail channel after controlling for sample selection bias and seasonality. Lastly, we estimate the price elasticity of demand correcting for endogeneity and find differences across channel consistent with the price differentials. The extent of price differential, however, differs significantly with respect to price point.     

Smuggling and price disparity

This paper proposes a model of smuggling consistent with the coexistence of smuggling, legal trade and price disparity, defined as a domestic price which exceeds (is less than) the return from legal export (import). These phenomena have been found to characterize Indonesian smuggling. A framework is presented in which legal trade is used to cloak smuggling activity with the implication that the greater the volume of legal trade, the less the costs of smuggling. This model is then used to explain the observation noted above and to show that smuggling may be welfare increasing vis-à-vis the non-smuggling situation, and that even if the suppression of smuggling is costless, tax revenue maximization may require a positive level of smuggling. In addition, the model is applied to coffee and rubber exports from Indonesia.     

On commodity price limits

This paper examines the behavior of futures prices and trader positions around the occurrence of price limits in commodity futures markets. We ask whether limit events are the result of shocks to fundamental volatility or the result of temporary volatility induced by the trading of noncommercial market participants (speculators). We find little evidence that limits events are the result of speculative activity, but instead associated with shocks to fundamentals that lead to persistent price changes. When futures trading halts price discovery migrates to options markets, but option prices provide a biased estimate of subsequent future prices when trading resumes.     

乘用车价格还要降,商用车价格还会升--近年汽车市场价格变化及未来走势分析

也许你正想买辆乘用车消费，也许你正想买辆商用车赚钱，面对价格不断变化的车市，你犹豫迷茫。未来三五年内汽车价格将会怎样？根据国外汽车市场价格的发展规律，笔者在此给出个人看法。