Food Choice in an Interdisciplinary Context

Reform of agricultural policies, notably the continuing elimination of production‐enhancing subsidies, makes it possible for policies to respond to social issues such as the rural environment and health in future. In this paper, we draw on a Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) research project which is examining the potential for the development of healthy food chains and the implications for human health and the environment. One of the key issues to be addressed is consumers’ willingness to pay for the nutritionally enhanced food products from these new chains, but it is evident that only a partial understanding can be gained from a traditional economics approach. In the paper, we discuss how economists are beginning to incorporate views from other disciplines into their models of consumer choice.     

Two-earner households and housing demand: The effect of the wife's occupational choice

This article analyzes the impact of the occupational choice of married women in two-earner households on the level of housing expenditures. In recent years married women have chosen professional and managerial occupations with increasing frequency. Because entry and exit from such occupations is costly, households will tend to view the incremental income as permanent. To analyze the housing market impact of this trend, a housing expenditure function is estimated using a national data set for the 1979 to 1987 period. The results indicate that households in which the wife is employed in a professional or managerial occupation spend considerably more on housing for given levels of current income. Furthermore, the effect is most pronounced among move-up homebuyers. To the extent that recent trends in female occupational choice continue, the impact on the housing market may be substantial.     

Do Daily Price Limits Act as Magnets? The Case of Treasury Bond Futures

This article examines price behavior in the U.S. Treasury bond futures market in the mornings after large overnight price moves, using data from 1980 to 1987. The article tests whether price behavior is affected by proximity to a price limit, and whether the effect is a magnet effect or a calming effect. In that period, the price tends to reverse direction after the morning open, and the reversal appears to reflect a calming effect of the price being close to the limit. An alternative hypothesis—that morning price behavior reflects the overnight price change rather than proximity to the price limit per se—is also tested, and does not perform as well in explaining price behavior.     

Do central banks lose on foreign-exchange intervention? A review article

Estimates of central bank intervention losses or profits vary widely; some estimates find substantial losses, others profits. In most cases, estimated profits are not risk-adjusted, and risk adjustment can have large effects. Furthermore, profit estimates involve variables integrated of order one, and because of this test-statistics may have nonstandard distributions; few studies take this into account. Estimates of risk-adjusted profits for the US Fed and the Swedish Riksbank, with allowances for possible nonstandard distributions, suggest that neither made losses and might have made significant profits.