Food Prices Policy in Israel: A Strategic Instrument

Abstract:

The goal of this research is to demonstrate a significant importance of state policy of food prices supervision in Israel. The article begins with a detailed discussion of the healthy food basket’s components, based on the Israeli Ministry of Health recommendations. Next, we present the prices of the goods included in the basket, and a calculated estimate of the per capita cost of funding the basket. Based on this cost figure, we assess the economic ability of Israeli households to purchase the basket. The results show that two lowest quintiles would have trouble paying the price of a basic health food basket. Further, it describes the food prices in Israel and its significance, Israel’s food market and the major regulatory tools associated with the food market. In the end, we define the need for short-term and longer-term regulation of food costs, and the necessity of expanding competition in the food market.     

A Note on Reswitching and Intertemporal Prices

Abstract

Bliss (Capital Theory and Distribution of Income, Amsterdam/New York: North-Holland/Elsevier) claims that reswitching is nothing but an ‘optical illusion’ due to the exclusion of non-stationary price sequences from the analysis. This note develops this point. The standard case for choice of techniques and reswitching is reformulated in terms of Arrow-Debreu intertemporal prices and the conditions making these prices stationary are highlighted separately. It is then shown that the analysis of the choice of techniques in terms of ‘switch points’ requires stationary conditions.     

Prices or Quantities Can Dominate Banking and Borrowing*

The possibility of intertemporal banking and borrowing of tradable permits is often viewed as tilting the various policy debates about optimal pollution control instruments towards favoring such time-flexible quantities. This paper shows that this view can be misleading, at least for the simplest dynamic extension of the original “prices versus quantities” information structure. The model of this paper allows firms to know and act upon the realization of uncertain future costs two full periods ahead of the regulators. For any given circumstance, the paper shows that either a fixed price or a fixed quantity is superior in expected welfare to time-flexible banking and borrowing. Furthermore, the standard original formula for the comparative advantage of prices over quantities contains sufficient information to completely characterize the regulatory role of intertemporal banking and borrowing. The logic and implications of these results are analyzed and discussed.     

Managing Permit Markets to Stabilize Prices

The political economy of environmental policy favors the use of quantity-based instruments over price-based instruments (e.g., tradable permits over green taxes), at least in the United States. With cost uncertainty, however, there are clear efficiency advantages to prices in cases where the marginal damages of emissions are relatively flat, such as with greenhouse gases. The question arises, therefore, of whether one can design flexible quantity policies that mimic the behavior of price policies, namely stable permit prices and abatement costs. We explore a number of “quantity-plus” policies that replicate the behavior of a price policy through rules that adjust the effective permit cap for unexpectedly low or high costs. They do so without necessitating any monetary exchanges between the government and the regulated firms, which can be a significant political barrier to the use of price instruments.     

我国棉花期货价格的影响因素

棉花是除了粮食之外的第二大宗农产品,它对于促进农业的稳定发展和国家经济的安全具有极其重要的作用。然而,近年来棉花价格波动相当频繁,其波动原因也随之成为了社会的关注焦点。文章从供求因素、汇率因素、政策法规、投机因素等方面分析棉花期货价格波动的原因,从而提出相关对策建议。     

The Myth of Fair Prices: A Graphical Analysis

The issues of fair trade and in particular fair price policies, have been neglected in most international trade courses. The authors show how the latter can be explained to undergraduate students applying the simple graphical methods normally used in general equilibrium trade theory. They show that fair pricing strategies can be looked upon as a suboptimal device for redistributing the gains from trade as compared with a transfer of funds.     

中国农产品价格波动对CPI的影响分析

近期引起中国农产品价格上涨的诱因很多。通过2006年1月—2011年8月的月度数据检验金融危机前、危机期间和危机后农产品价格与居民消费物价指数的互动关系表明,三个阶段的二者关系变化显著,而且危机前后农产品价格对CPI的影响比危机期间更明显,这一结果反映出当前中国农产品品质不能适应消费者对农产品质量的需求。     

The Prediction of Stock Prices Based on PCA and BP Neural Networks

There are many factors to influence stock prices indeed. The research method combining models and examples is applied to study how the factors affect stock prices here. Firstly, the principal component analysis is used to deal with a set of variables as the input of a BP Neural Network. Therefore, not only is the number of variables less, but also most of the information of original variables is kept. Then, the BP Neural Network is established to analyze and predict stock prices. Finally, the analysis of Chinese stock market illustrates that the method predicting stock prices is satisfying and feasible.     

On the Effects of Suggested Prices in Gasoline Markets

There is a widespread suspicion that suggested prices act as a focal point for individual firms when setting their prices. Oil companies announce suggested prices for gasoline stations in the Dutch retail market. We show that, compared to the gasoline spot market price, suggested prices contain additional information that explains retail price changes. We conclude that suggested prices have a horizontal coordinating effect in the sense that retail prices react to information that suggested prices contain and that is unrelated to firms’ costs (i.e., the information that firms use under normal competitive conditions).     

房价、房价偏离与溢出效应：来自珠江三角洲的经验证据

利用国外较新的PMG估计法,探讨影响珠江三角洲商品房均衡价值的因素及房价偏离,并采用脉冲响应函数分析房价偏离在不同城市间的溢出效应。随着收入和人口的增加,房价加速上涨;经济越发达的城市,房价收入比越大,房价的增长速度更快、波动更为剧烈。人均可支配收入是推动房价上涨最重要的长期因素,通货膨胀次之,贷款最小;但贷款、通货膨胀是主要的短期推动力。虽然珠江三角洲地区房价总体上没有明显的泡沫,但波动很剧烈,一旦发生调整,其幅度将很大。除江门外,其他城市只对深圳房价偏离的冲击做出响应,而深圳对其他城市房价偏离的冲击没有响应;江门房价更多的受到来自中山和珠海的影响,深圳是珠江三角洲房价波动的源头。     

Gradual Product Replacement,Intangible-Asset Prices and Schumpeterian Growth

The paper develops a general-equilibrium model of scale-invariant Schumpeterian (R&D-based) growth. New higher-quality products are discovered through stochastic and sequential R&D races in each industry. The market share of an R&D race winner increases gradually and is governed by an exponential deterministic process. The introduction of gradual (as opposed to instantaneous) product replacement sheds more light on the effects of the rate of technology diffusion on long-run growth and on long-run dynamics of intangible asset prices. An economy with faster product diffusion rates experiences higher long-run innovation rates, faster transitional growth, and is populated by younger firms. As the typical firm becomes older, the earnings yield (i.e., the inverse of the price earnings (P/E) ratio) increases and expected earnings growth declines. Younger firms have lower earnings, lower market shares, but higher P/E ratios and higher expected earnings growth associated with their higher potential market growth.An electronic version of the paper is available at http://bear.cba.ufl.edu/dinopoulos/research.html.     

Distorted Input Ratios in Vertical Relationships*

A project leader sources an input from a supporter and combines it with an input produced in-house. The leader has private information about the project's cost environment. We show that if the leader can commit to the in-house input level, the input ratio is distorted upward when the in-house input is not too costly – the in-house input is produced in excess and thus partly wasted. By contrast, without the leader's commitment to the in-house input level, the input ratio is distorted downward when the in-house input is sufficiently costly – the outsourced input is produced in excess and thus partly wasted.     

Asymmetric Behaviour of Spanish Regional House Prices

In connection with the housing market, which is presently raising a great deal of concern among the general public, this paper investigates regional housing prices in Spain using variable co-integration techniques. It analyzes the asymmetric behavior in real house prices among the Spanish regions focusing on the study of the long-term relationships over time. This paper raises an important question of the national averages masking important regional asymmetries. Results indicate evidence of co-integration, which suggests a broad grouping of regions based on physical proximity or similar economic characteristics.

非均衡条件下房地产价格变化的主要因素及动力机制

房地产市场是一非均衡的市场,特殊的市场性质和独特的商品属性决定了房地产价格的变化既要受供求关系的影响,又不能单纯的依靠供求关系,还必须通过政府相关的政策加以引导,调控房地产的供应数量与供应结构,引导经济预期.纵观供需两方面,在影响房地产价格变化的因素中,成本价格是价格变化的基础,消费者的购买能力与购买欲望是决定因素,而国家的政策具有双重影响,且影响房地产发展的全过程.房地产的价格也在市场机制和预期机制的共同作用下发展和变化.     

流动性过剩与股票价格重估

在固定汇率与资本管制框架下,剩余储蓄的持续增加必然导致流动性过剩,对股票市场而言,只有当实体经济持续的剩余储蓄增加引起流动性过剩时,才会推动股票市场估值中枢的剧烈抬升.对近期经济指标的分析表明,股票市场重估将会持续下去,而货币政策紧缩引起的投资下降会进一步扩大剩余储蓄,加快重估的进程.     

Some Evidence on the Adjustment of Producer Prices*

We document producer price adjustment using a low‐inflation micro price dataset. On average 24% of prices adjust each month, with an average increase/decrease of 6%. Producer prices adjust more frequently than consumer prices, but their size of adjustment is typically smaller. Sectoral heterogeneity in the frequency of price adjustment is strongly related to heterogeneity in the cost structure. Fluctuations in aggregate producer price inflation occur to a large extent through variation in the relative share of upward and downward price adjustment.     

Joint Adjustment of House Prices, Stock Prices and Output Towards Short‐run Equilibrium

A dynamic IS‐LM model including houses and stocks as additional assets will be analysed in this paper. Providing also housing services, a major consumption item for most households, houses create an additional link between the monetary and the real sector, distinct from the traditional wealth effect channel. We analyse the adjustment path of output, house prices and stock prices after policy shocks within a rational expectation setup. Depending crucially on the elasticity of housing services demand, different reaction patterns of asset prices will emerge. The results are contrasted with relevant empirical findings, particularly Lastrapes (Journal of Housing Economics, 11 (2002), pp. 40–74), leading to the identification of plausible elasticity ranges. The analysis sheds new light on the ongoing discussion about demand effects from changing real estate wealth and about determinants of house price fluctuations.     

秸秆分布式能源发展价格支持研究

在着重分析了秸秆分布式能源特征及其发展价格支持机制的前提下,根据世界主要国家秸秆分布式能源发展的先进经验研究其发展价格形成机制,提出了中国秸秆分布式能源发展价格支持措施。     

基于资产价格影响的货币政策非对称性效应研究

利用NK-SVAR模型就我国货币政策的非对称性效应进行研究,结果表明,紧缩性货币政策的效果比较明显,而扩张性货币政策效果较弱.货币冲击的紧缩效应强于扩张效应,这表明抑制经济的过快增长时紧缩性的货币政策效果显著,但扩张性货币政策无法摆脱经济的恶性衰退.     

House Prices and Stock Prices: Different Roles in the US Monetary Transmission Mechanism*

We analyze the role of house prices and stock prices in the monetary‐policy transmission mechanism in the US, using a structural vector autoregressive model. If we allow the interest rate and asset prices to react simultaneously to news, we find different roles for house prices and stock prices in the monetary transmission mechanism. Following a contractionary monetary‐policy shock, stock prices fall immediately, while the response in house prices is more gradual. Regarding the systematic response in monetary policy, stock prices play a more important role than house prices. As a consequence, house prices contribute more than stock prices to fluctuations in gross domestic product and inflation.