Price volatility in Niger millet markets

Price volatility of food staples is one of the most complex factors affecting food security. Recent food price crises have raised academic interest in improved volatility assessment. The widely held assumption in econometric volatility models that long‐run volatility is constant, has been recently questioned and partly blamed for these crises. A multiplicative MGARCH model recently proposed by Bauwens et al. is used in this article to model price volatility transmission along the Niger millet marketing chain. Results suggest important volatility links between consumer and producer prices, as well as noteworthy differences between short and long‐run price dynamics.     

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.     

土地价格与经济增长关系的实证分析——以东部地区为例

研究目的:根据国民收入核算理论,研究农村和城市居民消费、投资、政府支出以及净出口5个方面受土地价格波动的影响程度,解析土地价格与宏观经济间的关系,在东部地区进行实证研究。研究方法:计量经济法和模型分析法。研究结果:东部土地价格与消费、投资、政府支出和净出口之间存在显著的相关关系;东部土地价格每上升1个百分点,GDP将提高0.225个百分点。研究结论:东部土地价格上升对经济增长的贡献较大,土地成为经济增长的基本要素,政府应该高度重视土地价格在宏观经济调控中的基础性作用。     

Price and Volatility Transmission and Market Power in the German Fresh Pork Supply Chain

We investigate the relationship between the transmission of price volatility and market power in the German fresh pork supply chain. We use a theoretical model underpinning this relationship followed by an empirical application that uses monthly farm, slaughterhouse and retail pork price data for the period 2000–2011. We examine both the relationships of market power with price level transmission and price volatility transmission in the chain. We use a vector error correction model and least squares regressions to analyse price transmission and price volatility transmissions, respectively. Results show that retail market power limited both types of transmissions. Competition inducing policy measures coupled with measures that support price risk management initiatives of chain actors are suggested.     

基于Granger检验的地价与房价关系研究

研究目的:探讨地价与房价的因果关系。研究方法:实证研究法与计量经济学分析方法。研究结果:在短期,武汉市房价与地价互为因果,其中地价是房价的Granger原因的程度更大;在长期,房价与地价之间没有显著的因果关系。研究结论:在利用土地政策进行宏观调控时,宜多采用内生的政策工具;继续强化对土地投机的抑制政策,可相应减少政府用来“熨平市场”所需的土地储备量,以缓解土地储备资金不足之困。     

农地经营权流转价格扭曲的政府干预效应 ——基于边际价格理论的实证分析

研究目的：考察政府不同干预行为对农地经营权流转价格扭曲的影响效应,为完善农地生产要素配置及优化农地市场内外环境等提供政策建议。研究方法： Binary Logistic模型。研究结果：（1）当前农地经营权流转价格本应反映承包地利用产生的经济效益,由土地要素投入产出品的边际收益价值所决定;但受市场机制不完善、乡土伦理规范等多重影响,农地实际流转价格与要素价格间产生差异,表现为农地经营权流转价格扭曲。（2）政府不同的干预行为对农地经营权流转价格扭曲产生差异化效应。政府主导流转的直接干预模式会引起流转价格的高价扭曲,而通过构建流转交易平台、提供补贴等政策间接干预会缓解流转价格的低价扭曲。（3）对土地的经济诉求和保障诉求是造成流转价格扭曲的重要原因。研究结论：农地经营权流转价格的形成应交予市场,政府应避免直接干预造成价格的人为扭曲,可通过土地流转中介组织或补贴政策来间接培育优化农地市场交易环境。     

Futures markets and price stabilisation: An analysis of soybeans markets in North America

The objective of this paper was to determine whether the futures markets have a stabilising or destabilising impact on soybean's spot prices in North America. Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) are used to test for causality between futures prices, spot prices and ending stocks, followed by time series econometric analysis. The DAGs point to the two-way causal link between futures and spot prices and a lack of a causal link between inventory/stocks and spot price volatility. Time series results, including cointegration, vector error correction, impulse response and variance decomposition analysis, indicate a large impact from futures markets on the level and volatility of soybean spot prices in both the short and long run. These results have potentially important implications, as the impact of commodity price volatility is typically asymmetric across different actors. Farmers, for example, unlike speculators, utilise price risk management (PRM) instruments such as futures markets to mitigate price risks and appear to suffer from intensified volatility precisely because of their use of these instruments. Therefore, additional policies to cope with commodity price volatility, such as direct price controls or mitigation of consequences, can have critical stabilising functions supporting farmers' welfare and regional (rural) development.     

Price anomalies and effectiveness of macro control policies: Evidence from Chinese housing markets

Since the housing market reform in 1998, China has experienced a rapid growth. Continuous surges in housing prices have been criticized by the public. In light of deviation of the price from its intrinsic value, the central government implements a series of policies to intervene the housing market, but makes little difference. Little vigorous academic work on the price anomaly and impact of macro-control measures has been conducted for housing markets in urban China. This research employs econometric methodologies to investigate the interactions between housing price and market fundamentals, in order to identify the existence of price anomaly in the housing markets of Beijing and Shanghai during 1998–2012. In addition, we conduct asymmetry analysis based on an advanced econometric model to investigate the impact of macro-control measures on price and volume. Our findings suggest that the market inefficiency is indicated by lack of interaction between housing supply and demand in Beijing and Shanghai. The opposite directions of impulse responses of price to income in the two cities are mainly attributed to the different market structures. While price anomalies are found occasionally, the housing prices are considered reasonable in Beijing and Shanghai for most of the time. Furthermore, the analysis on the role of macro-control policies in Chinese housing markets reveals that government interventions regulate the market ineffectively at the current stage.     

Price and quantity controlled agricultural markets and disequilibrium econometrics: a survey

This survey reviews the literature on estimating single markets in disequilibrium in the presence of regulated price and/or quantity controls, e.g., minimum price regimes and/or marketing quotas. Most of the literature is found to describe pure econometric technique, with only a few applications having emerged to date. Various reasons for the broad non-acceptance of this literature are offered, including a perceived lack of realism. Proposals to close this econometric theory–application gap are put forward, including: the use of effective demand concepts in specifying demand and supply functions; synthesizing some closely related literature on agricultural price/quantity controls with disequilibrium econometrics (i.e., endogenous government policy and the effects controls have on yield uncertainty and price risk); and outlining more ‘applicable’ econometric technique extensions.     

A quantile autoregression analysis of price volatility in agricultural markets

This paper investigates the dynamics of agricultural price volatility based on a quantile autoregression (QAR) model. The QAR model provides a flexible representation of the distribution of price and its dynamics. The approach is applied to U.S. wheat and corn markets over the period of 1980–2017. This period is of significant interest as it covers important changes in agricultural policy and increased reliance on markets. The price analysis is conducted conditional on stocks held in the previous period. We show how increasing previous stocks shift the price distribution to the left and decreases the odds of facing price spikes (by shifting down the upper tail of the price distribution). Our analysis also examines the effects of changing public stocks on prices. For both wheat and corn, this reflects changing agricultural policy, contrasting the 1980s (when public stocks were relatively high) with the post-2005 period (when public stocks became zero). We document how higher public stock ratio during the previous period did not lower the odds of facing price spikes. Applied to the wheat and corn markets, we also uncover evidence of local dynamic instability in the upper tail of the price distribution, suggesting that price instability becomes more pronounced when previous stocks are low.     

Impacts of agricultural price support policy on price variability and welfare: Evidence from China's soybean market

China is a predominant soybean importer; thus, its domestic soybean policies have a large impact on world soybean market dynamics. We develop the first aggregate structural econometric model of China's soybean market and link it to the rest of the world (ROW), which allows us to analyze the impacts of China's soybean price support policy that ran from 2008 to 2013. We investigate the impacts of China's policy on the variability of their domestic and world soybean prices, and adopt a Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the effects on distributional and aggregate welfare. Our results indicate: (a) after China's soybean price support policy, price transmission elasticity decreases, China's domestic price variability decreases, and world price variability increases; (b) China's producer surplus increases, consumer surplus decreases and the net welfare change in their domestic market is negative; and (c) although soybean exporting countries in the ROW experience significant welfare gains, the world net welfare change is negative.     

Food Price Pass‐Through and the Role of Domestic Margin Services

The recent volatility in international agricultural markets has drawn attention to the impact of rising international agricultural prices and the induced price‐insulating measures on consumer food prices. Analyses based on simulation models on this topic typically ignore the role of domestic margin services. We extend the standard Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model to allow for variations in the share of domestic margin services in consumed food across countries. This approach enables us to differentiate consumer prices from producer prices. Following the extension, the results show that domestic margin services reduce the consumer food price volatility for all countries, especially in high‐income countries, where the share of domestic margin services in final food consumption is higher. The effect of price‐insulating border policies is also reduced in the extended model. We find that our extension of the GTAP model greatly improves simulations of the 2007 surge in international agricultural prices. We validate our extension of the GTAP model by showing that the econometrically estimated food price pass‐through is decreasing with income and thus, is smaller in high‐income countries.     

房价与地价的动态调整关系

研究目的:探讨地价与房价间的动态调整关系,为政府决策提供支持。研究方法:门限协整理论,EGARCH模型和实证分析法。研究结果:(1)房价和地价呈正相关;(2)地价变化是房价变化的Granger原因,地价和房价之间存在协整关系;(3)地价与房价在偏离均衡时其调整回归系数是非对称的。研究结论:购房者、开发商对利空利好消息的反应差异和中央与地方的利益博弈及各相关利益机构对房地产政策"选择性执行"是非对称性调整现象产生的原因,提出改进土地拍卖制度、平衡中央地方财力、优化政绩考核标准、强化对地方执行各项房地产政策的监管等建议。     

Assessing Global Computable General Equilibrium Model Validity Using Agricultural Price Volatility

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are commonly used for global agricultural market analysis. Concerns are sometimes raised, however, about the quality of their output since key parameters may not be econometrically estimated and little emphasis is generally given to model assessment. This article addresses the latter issue by developing an approach to validating CGE models based on the ability to reproduce observed price volatility in agricultural markets. We show how patterns in the deviations between model predictions and validation criteria can be used to identify the weak points of a model and guide development of improved specifications with firmer empirical foundations.     

Price Endogeneity and Food Demand in Urban China

Price endogeneity has been ignored in previous analyses of food demand in urban China. We exploit data provided by the China National Bureau of Statistics on agricultural commodity supply shifters and use reduced‐form price equations to account for price endogeneity. Applying our unique econometric approach to the analysis of provincial‐level food demand in China, we find strong statistical evidence of price endogeneity. Models that ignore price endogeneity result in substantially biased elasticities and misleading estimates of future food demand in China.     

Volatility in Oilseeds and Vegetable Oils Markets: Drivers and Spillovers

Food price volatility has re‐emerged as an important topic of political discussion since the food price crisis of 2007–2008. Different volatility drivers have been identified for different markets in the theoretical and empirical literature. However, there is no comprehensive analysis that considers a large number of potential drivers and investigates their joint effects in a dynamic model of interrelated markets. Our study provides such a volatility analysis for the oilseeds and vegetable oils markets. We use a common GARCH approach and a VAR model to identify volatility drivers and spillover effects. Our results show that exchange rate volatility is very important. However, the hotly debated financialisation of commodity markets is not found to be volatility increasing in our monthly data. Impulse response functions show strong spillover effects. Because many volatility drivers found to be important in other markets have no significant effect in our study, our results suggest that volatility drivers are market specific. This implies that any volatility‐reducing policies need to be designed for the market in question.     

价格支持、政策调整及粮食市场波动

目的 为了估计价格支持政策对不同粮食品种期现货价格波动的直接影响,实证分析和比较了政策及其调整对粮食期现货价格波动实施效果的影响,为深化粮食价格形成机制改革提供一定的理论参考和实证支撑。方法 文章利用稻谷、小麦、玉米和大豆的现货与期货价格日数据,将政策以虚拟变量的形式引入GARCH模型实证分析最低收购价政策、临时收储政策及其调整对平抑粮食期现货市场波动的作用。结果 价格支持政策对粮食价格波动产生了显著影响,最低收购价政策能够明显降低稻谷和小麦现货市场的波动程度,但对期货市场波动的作用则相反;玉米和大豆临时收储政策的取消导致现货市场波动性提高,而对期货市场波动的影响存在差异。结论 价格支持政策具有降低价格波动的作用效果,政策调控效果与实施品种的国内供求及市场形势、国内外市场的联系程度密切相关,政策的完善还需关注对期货市场波动的影响。     

长江三角洲地区工业地价形成的内在机理与博弈分析

研究目的:针对长江三角洲地区工业地价之间的压价恶性竞争,通过建立实证模型阐述工业地价形成的内在机理和城市间的博弈过程,为促进该区域间的合理博弈和协作提供参考.研究方法:Delphi法,相关分析方法.研究结果:分析了工业地价形成的内在机理,并且构建了最优地价模型.研究结论:当前经济发展水平、城市路网密度、城镇居民可支配收入、协议出让土地面积所占比例是影响长江三角洲地区城市工业地价形成的主要因素,并对工业地价形成的作用程度不同.推进工业用地市场化、建立信息公开制度、制定跨区域的国土规划、完善土地管理制度、构建新型土地税收体系是推进长三角地区从非理性博弈过渡到理性博弈的有效途径.     

中国省会城市地价空间变化实证研究——以昆明市为例

研究目的:借鉴西方城市空间结构均衡理论,分析中国省会级单中心城市地价空间变化特征,探讨影响中国单中心城市地价空间变化的因素,地价空间变化曲线及其优化土地利用模式。研究方法:采用昆明市2001—2005年的实际交易地价数据,运用GIS空间分析和计量经济学模型。研究结果:随距市中心距离增加,地价呈逐步衰减的趋势,但有明显的空间变异性和方位差异。地价空间变化的最主要影响因素是距市中心的距离,其次是商业中心分布、城市公用设施和自然条件等。研究结论:昆明市地价空间变化实证研究表明,经过10余年的城市土地使用制度改革,地价对土地资源空间配置已发挥作用,省级单中心城市地价空间变化基本符合阿朗索空间结构理论模式。     

杭州市住宅价格空间分异:基于特征价格的两维度分析

研究目的:从特征价格的视角,构建城市住宅价格空间分异的两维度分析框架,并对杭州市住宅市场进行实证研究。研究方法:文献资料法和计量分析法。研究结果:住宅特征对住宅价格影响程度的差异性以及住宅特征空间分布的不均匀性,导致了住宅价格的空间分异。研究结论:基于特征价格模型的分析框架是有效且合理的。