Supply response of farm program in rice-growing states

This study aims to develop an acreage response model for rice-growing states using a policy-inducing variable. The single equation regression model for each rice-producing state is estimated by using the ordinary least square multiple regression procedure after log transformation. Data for the period 1959 to 1988 for acreage plantation, market price, target price, loan rate, and acreage reduction rate are used in designing the policy-inducing price. The estimated parameter shows a significant inverse relationship between the rice acreage planted and policy-inducing prices in all of the rice-growing states, with the exception of Louisiana. The estimated short-run elasticities for Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas are -0.36, -0.68, 0.30, -0.37, and -0.59, respectively. The heterogeneity in the magnitude of the elasticities suggests the need for redesigning the rice programs to generate desirable acreage responses from all of the rice-growing states.     

Policy reform and farmers' coping strategies: The case of corn price shocks in Heilongjiang Province of China

A substantial decrease in corn prices caused by the policy reform in 2016 in China led to heterogeneous supply responses of corn producers: decreasing corn acreage, making no change in corn acreage, and expanding corn acreage. We investigate the causes and consequences of cropland allocation of the supply responses using the balanced panel data on corn-producing households from 2015 through 2016 in Heilongjiang Province. We find that the corn producers largely acted in accordance with their own household resource endowments to make their choice decisions in response to the corn price shocks. Our results show that the decrease in corn prices led to a small decline in total corn acreage and a considerable increase in total acreage for soybeans and rice in 2016 and that the increase in total soybean acreage was more through area expansion rather than through substitution. Our results also show that crop structure for large-scale producers was more responsive to corn price than for medium- and small-scale producers. Given that continuous corn rotation prevails currently in Heilongjiang, our major finding suggests that the acreages planted to corn and soybeans cannot be easily adjusted by the market.     

我国价格支持政策对粮食生产的影响研究

文章利用2004年和2006年稻谷主产地区样本数据,运用倍差分析方法,着重考察了价格支持政策对稻谷生产的影响,研究发现,没有证据表明价格支持政策对稻谷面积扩大带来明显的激励作用,而且还存在较低的成本有效性（有着较大的成本节约的空间）;现存耕地面积、有效灌溉比重和农业劳动力数量会在一定程度上影响稻谷生产。为此,本文提出,要坚定不移地保持耕地面积不减少,加强以农田水利为重点的农业基础设施建设,推进农业社会化服务体系长足发展。     

The impact of the acreage allotment program on rice farming

This paper designs an acreage response model under the acreage allotment farm program incorporation a policy-inducing variable. The single-equation regression model for each rice-producing state is estimated by the ordinary least squares mulitiple regression procedure. The estimated parameter shows a significant direct relationship between the rice acreage planted and plicy-inducing price in all the rice-growing states. The estimated short-run elasticities for Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas were 0.72, 0.59, 0.67, 0.66, and 0.81 respectively. The heterogeneity in the magnitude of the elasticities during the acreate allotment period suggests considering a rice program formulation in response to each state's variability in physical restraints, availability of irrigation water, average yields, and return over cost, thereby providing risk management incentives to rice growers to respond positively to the farm program.     

The effects of domestic rice market interventions outside business-as-usual conditions for imported rice prices

The Philippine government intervenes in the domestic rice market through the imposition of import tariffs and the provision of producer and consumer subsidies. While policymakers are aware that these programmes come with allocative efficiency costs, they justify the programmes on the grounds that they insulate the domestic economy from unexpected price spikes in the international rice market. An interesting matter for policy evaluation is to quantify the insulation benefit that the programmes provide in circumstances of sudden severe import price spikes. To examine this question, we undertake a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) simulation in which the Philippines is subject to an external rice price shock. We find that the insulation benefit of the support programmes under a 2008-like event is worth approximately 0.10% of real consumption. However, the cost of insuring against these price spikes is significant. We estimate the annual cost of the rice market interventions at approximately 0.40% of real consumption.     

房地产税、市场结构与房价

本文在住房流量模型的基础上,构建了一个购房者和开发商的住房市场局部均衡模型,考察了完全垄断和完全竞争情形下房地产税与房价之间的关系。结果表明,无论何种市场结构,提高房地产税均导致房价下降;住房市场垄断性越强,房价越高,房地产税对房价影响越大。笔者对1996-2008年中国33个大中城市数据的检验发现,市场结构对房价影响大于房地产税。房地产税增长率每增加1%,房价增长率将减少0.03%;勒纳指数每增加1%,房价增长率将增加0.16%。房地产税与市场结构相互作用将使房价上涨,但影响微不足道。因此,对住宅开征房地产税,将对房价上涨有一定限制作用,但不能有效抑制房价上涨,而增强住宅市场竞争性、降低开发商垄断具有显著效果。     

Does asymmetry in price transmission exist in the rice market in Sri Lanka?

This study analyses asymmetry in price transmission between wholesale and retail rice markets in Sri Lanka, using the threshold autoregressive model. We found that the wholesale and the retail rice markets in Sri Lanka are integrated, with price changes moving from the wholesale to the retail market. However, the price transmission process is asymmetric. In particular, price increases at the wholesale market transmit immediately to the retail market while price decreases transmit more slowly. Parameter stability test and follow-up analysis indicated that the price transmission process is asymmetric only during periods of price surges, suggesting that the rice market is not efficient during these periods.     

基于风险补偿的企业债券定价研究

在有效市场中,企业债券的超额收益是对其所面临的风险可能导致损失的补偿,企业债券的理论价格是表征资金时间价值的无风险收益率和风险溢价的函数。根据市场无风险收益率、违约风险溢价,以及流动性风险溢价所遵循的随机波动方程,并考虑债券的违约回收率,本文构建了基于风险补偿的企业债券理论价格模型,并对2006年第3季度至2010年第1季度中国债券市场中32只企业债券的实际价格和理论价格进行了实证检验。研究发现,绝大多数企业债券的实际价格与理论价格差异不大,但少数中长期债券的实际价格系统性地低于理论价格;公用事业类企业债券的价格对市场信息不够敏感;我国债券市场上存在较多的套利资金。最后从所做的研究中,得出了完善我国债券市场的一些启示。     

Market Power,Permit Allocation and Efficiency in Emission Permit Markets

Market power in permit markets has been examined in some detail following the seminal work of Hahn (Q J Econ 99(4):753–765, 1984), but the effect of free allocation on price manipulation with market power in both product and permit market has not been fully addressed. I show that in this case, the threshold of free allocation above which a dominant firm will set the permit price above its marginal abatement costs is below its optimal emissions in a competitive market, and that overall efficiency cannot be achieved by means of permit allocation alone. In addition to being of general economic interest, this issue is relevant in the context of the EU ETS. I find that the largest German, UK and Nordpool power generators received free allowances in excess of the derived threshold. Conditional on having price-setting power in both the electricity and permit markets, these firms would have found it profitable to manipulate the permit price upwards despite being net permit buyers.     

Staple food control and industrial development in postwar Japan, 1950–1957: The role of the black market

Japanese rice policy in the early postwar period consisted of a compulsory delivery and rationing system designed to transfer economic surplus from farmers to urban workers to relieve upward pressure on industrial wage rates. The system was not consistent with private incentives so a black market in rice about half the size of the official market existed. This paper uses simple welfare analysis to estimate the magnitudes of the transfers and social costs involved for 1950–1957. The analysis suggests that the black market played an important role in the success of the rice policy during this period and provides a rationale for the apparent willingness of Japanese authorities to allow the black market to function alongside the official market.     

Farm Acreage Shocks and Crop Prices: An SVAR Approach to Understanding the Impacts of Biofuels

The last 10?years have seen tremendous expansion in biofuels production, particularly in corn ethanol in the United States, at the same time that commodity prices (e.g., corn) have experienced significant spikes. While supporters claim that biofuels are renewable and carbon-friendly, concerns have been raised about their impacts on land use and food prices. This paper analyzes how US crop prices have responded to shocks in acreage supply; these shocks can be thought of as a shock to the residual supply of corn for food. Using a structural vector auto-regression framework, we examine shocks to a crop??s own acreage and to total cropland. This allows us to estimate the effect of dedicating cropland or non-crop farmlands to biofuels feedstock production. A negative shock in own acreage leads to an increase in price for soybeans and corn. Our calculations show that increased corn ethanol production during the boom production year 2006/2007 explains approximately 27% of the experienced corn price rise.     

中国粮食供求变化趋势预测:基于区域化市场均衡模型

本文通过构建一个涉及 1 8种 (类 )主要农产品和 7个地区的中国农产品区域市场均衡模型并基于二种不同情景的模拟分析 ,从全国和地区二个层次上预测和分析了 2 0 0 6年和 2 0 1 0年我国稻谷、小麦和玉米三种粮食的供求形势。模型结果显示 ,未来几年我国粮食供求关系在总体上将保持基本稳定的发展态势 ,国内外粮价回升可使我国粮食生产在近期内取得恢复性增长。预计稻谷、小麦和玉米的总产量将超过 4亿吨 ,粮食自给率在 92 %左右 ,国内粮食产需缺口将维持在目前的 3 50 0万吨左右 ,其中小麦占五分之三 ,玉米将从目前基本平衡转变为净进口。这种供求变化趋势同时也具有明显的区域特征。华东和华南地区粮食缺口规模将不断扩大 ,东北和华北地区将呈现以玉米为主导的快速粮食生产增长态势且超过需求增长 ,中南地区将从短缺转向粮食基本自给 ,西南和西北地区将继续保持现有缺口规模。为现实中国粮食供求的长期稳定与均衡发展 ,本文最后提出了涉及耕地保护、跨省区粮食贸易、国际粮食安全合作、价格增产效应和政府决策科学化等五方面的政策建议     

The consumption-real exchange rate anomaly: nontraded goods and distribution services

An empirical analysis of risk sensitivity of supply response is attempted here for seven major field crops in California over a twenty-two year period 1949–70. Two distinct types of risk sensitivity are evidenced by the empirical trend e.g., for crops like alfalfa, sugarbeets and sorghum, where short run adjustment factors are important, the year-to-year acreage changes reflect the negative impact of price and returns risk very strongly. For other crops like rice and barley, where long run factors of adjustment are important, the impact of price changes rather than the variance of prices or returns are more important. This pattern of risk sensitivity has important economic implications for welfare gains resulting from price support and stabilization policies pursued by the federal government.     

Rice market integration in the Mekong River Delta1

In the last decades Vietnam has become a major supplier in the world's rice market. This position is the result of the policy reforms that have been implemented in the agricultural sector. This paper assesses the impact of the liberalization policies and focuses on the spatial price differences in the domestic rice market. The results show that price patterns correlate strongly in the Mekong River Delta. Even prices in other regions are integrated with price patterns in the South. Interestingly, private traders in the Mekong Delta are only indirectly responsible for the latter result. They satisfy local demand and deal with state‐owned enterprises (SOEs). In the framework of the national food security policy, the state‐owned food companies ‘subsidize’ transactions between the South and the North. Moreover, the state‐owned food companies still dominate export transactions. The latter issues constitute two major queries for policy makers involved in the liberalization of the rice market, as further policy measures should not jeopardize the interests of domestic rice consumers.     

JAPANESE ANTITRUST: RECONCILING THEORY AND EVIDENCE

Japanese antitrust law exempts a variety of vertical and horizontal restraints that remain closely regulated in the United States. Despite these dissimilar antitrust environments, however, market concentration, firms' exercise of market power, and deadweight loss from monopoly are highly similar in the two countries. The hypothesis that antitrust alters the relative mix of price to non-price competition rather than the absolute level that competition assumes might explain this empirical puzzle. Thus, this paper studies Japanese antitrust exemptions for resale price maintenance and export cartel associations to illustrate how adopting vertical and horizontal restraints has allowed Japanese firms to substitute towards forms of non-price competition better tailored to industry characteristics.     

A research on China’s long-term rice prices (1644–2000)

Drawing on the research achievements on rice prices made in the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and New China, this paper arranges, estimates and observes the statistical data on rice prices in the country over the past three-and-a-half centuries. This paper includes the following four aspects: first of all, it assembles and reorganizes the original data of rice market prices marked in various forms of money in different historical periods since the Qing Dynasty; then it converts the original data of rice prices into the nominal rice price index by making use of the numerical exchange relations between different currencies developed in the past revolution and evolution of monetary systems; and then it converts the nominal rice price into real rice price data in conjunction with the arrangement and estimation results of the general price index; and finally, it makes a brief observation of and comment on some features of long-term changes of real rice prices. __________ Translated from China Economic Quarterly (经济学季刊), 2005, (9) (in Chinese)     

Price or Quantity Competition? Oligopolistic Structures in International Commodity Markets

International commodity markets may be characterized by price or quantity competition and by product differentiation. As an illustration, this paper presents a set of models of the Japanese market for imported beef. The models are evaluated using a non-nested econometric test. The one which best fits the data is a Stackelberg model with price leadership by Australia. This result provides evidence on the explicit nature of the game being played by exporters, unlike the applied conjectural variations approach which provides only an index of how competitive the market is.     

经济基本面影响了住房消费吗——基于EG两步法和var模型的实证分析

本文搜集了1998年一季度到2008年一季度全国时序数据,对住房消费与收入、利率、失业率、房价等经济基本面因素进行了实证研究。首先用EG两步法证实了房地产市场中特有的量价齐升现象,这主要归因于房价的强烈上涨预期改变了居民住房消费行为。随后进一步证实了住房消费与包括收入、利率、房价在内的整个经济基本面之间存在着协整关系,认为目前我国房地产市场整体上还没有出现房地产泡沫。脉冲响应和方差分解的结果表明,在影响住房消费的经济基本面因素中,收入对住房消费的贡献率是越来越大的,而利率和房价的贡献是越来越小的。     

Educational attainment,growth and poverty reduction within the MDG framework: simulations and costing for the Peruvian case

Using quarterly data, 1999:Q2–2009:Q3, we empirically examine the key macro determinants of housing prices for China’s residential market. Employing Granger causality and Vector Auto-Regression (VAR) models, we find that there exists strong bivariate causality between house price increases and its determinants. The variance decomposition suggests that speculative factors reflected by past increases in real house price contribute a relatively larger proportion to house price rises relative to fundamental factors.     

Searching for price parity in the European whitefish market

The purpose of this paper is to test for price parity across different species of whitefish in the European Union. Price parity is defined by a system of cointegrated prices and would be evidence of a single European market for whitefish. Whitefish are of interest because EU fishers receive the largest share of their income from these fish species. Notwithstanding the single market policy of the EU, by establishing national and regional associations to stabilize or increase the local price of fish, fishers operate as if the European market is made up of separate submarkets with price being determined largely within each submarket. If whitefish markets were price cointegrated such associations would be largely ineffective. In that case, what are required are regulations that encompass the European market.