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Estimating expenditure and price elasticities of food commodities using German cross-sectional household data
Full text linkThis study presents a procedure to estimate expenditure and price elasticities of food commodities from cross-sectional data. There are two problems with the use of cross-sectional data: First, price-information is not sufficient in these data. To derive "adjusted prices" from cross-sectional data an approach of COX and WOHLGENANT is applied. Second, zero expenditures for some commodity groups can be observed. To avoid selectivity bias a generalization of the HECKMAN procedure is employed. Both, the adjusted prices and the bias correction are included in a Linear Expenditure System. It can be concluded that expenditure and price elasticities could differ significantly between household characteristics. The research results suggest that attempts to use only the mean elasticity coefficient as a description of consumer behaviour without regarding the variances between households might be not appropriate
Utilisation of the internet in German agriculture: E-hubs as a new form of organization
Full text linkThis paper describes the concept of E-commerce portals, so called E-hubs, in its basic characteristics and analyses their potential impacts on agribusiness enterprises and agricultural markets. Since these impacts depend on the level of market penetration of this new type of organisation, it is further attempted to identify the most relevant factors that determine future acceptance and utilisation of internet portals at sector and enterprise level
The Dairy Sector in the Central European Candidate (CEC) Countries - The Status of Restructuring and Future Challenges
Full text linkThe dairy sector in the CEC countries had to cope with tremendous adjustment pressures in the 90ies. Privatization and liberalization contributed to intense competition on the CEC countries\u27 dairy market. Major problems that impede the competitiveness of this sector are a considerable fragmentation of the dairy processing industry, pronounced excess capacities, high seasonality of milk production and low investment activities. The latter delays the modernization of processing technologies and thus hinders quality improvements and the adjustments of hygienic conditions as well as product and process standards to EU norms. These problems are common to all CEC countries, though to different degrees. In addition, especially in Bulgaria and Romania, but also in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia the dairy industry is burdened by the low quality of the raw material and high milk collecting costs. Improving technical as well as economic efficiency in the primary and processing sector and seeking strategic alliances are necessary to secure the competitiveness of the CEC countries\u27 dairy industry in EU and world markets
Time Preference and Time Consistency:
Full text linkOn the Rationality of Sequential ChoiceThe paper discusses the problem of discounting, time preference, and time consistent decision making. While a constant pure rate of time preference leads to consistent consumption plans, other discounting schemes - like hyperbolic discounting - do not. Using a so-called money pump argument, time inconsistencies can be shown to be irrational. The paper also explores the use of a hedonic utility concept to explain sequential choice behaviour