Econ Focus, Foruth Quarter 2017
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A Sticky-Price View of Hoarding ∗
A Sticky-Price View of Hoarding ∗ Christopher Hansman Harrison Hong Aureo de Paula Imperial College London Columbia University University College London Vishal Singh New York University November 8, 2018 Abstract Governments worry that household hoarding of staple foods during times of high prices destabilizes com- modity markets. The conventional view has hoarding—due to consumer precaution or panic—amplifying supply shocks and creating shortages. Using U.S. store-scanner data during the 2008 Global Rice Crisis, we reject this narrative. Areas with rice-eating populations had more hoarding but no difference in store price dynamics or stockouts. We find support instead for a reverse-causal channel, whereby sticky store prices lead to hoarding. Anticipating higher prices, rice-eating households bought rice from slow-to-adjust stores that implicitly offered promotions. Policy implications differ across these two views. ∗This paper was previously circulated as "Hoard Behavior and Commodity Bubbles". We thank seminar participants at INSEAD, Aalto, Peking University, Warwick University, Cambridge University, NBER Universities Conference on Commodities, HKUST, New York University, PUC-Rio and Yale University for helpful comments. We are also grateful to Emi Nakamura, Hassan Afrousi, Michael Woodford, William Goetzmann, Hank Bessembinder, Manuel Arellano, Orazio Attanasio, Richard Blundell, Marcelo Fernandes, Bo Honoré, Guy Laroque, Valerie Lechene and Elie Tamer for useful conversations. de Paula gratefully acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council through Starting Grant 338187 and the Economic and Social Research Council through the ESRC Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice grant RES-589-28-0001. 1 Introduction Household hoarding of staple foods—defined as the accumulation of inventories during times of high prices—has long been a concern of governments, particularly in developing countries. -
U.S. and European Authorities Actively Pursue COVID-19 Price Gouging Violations
U.S. and European authorities actively pursue COVID-19 price gouging violations 20 April 2020 The COVID-19 crisis has led to increased scrutiny of pricing decisions by competition and consumer protection authorities around the world. Already, we have seen a rise in state, federal, and international enforcement efforts in response to rapidly increasing complaints of price gouging activity related to products that are in high demand or designated as essential by statute or executive action as a result of the crisis. In light of this, companies should be aware of several aspects of price gouging laws and recent enforcement activity: First, normal supply and demand rules may not apply during a crisis – that is, sellers who normally respond to increased demand by increasing prices may violate state price gouging laws which prohibit price increases over a certain amount during emergencies. Second, online marketplaces (i.e., platforms) are also facing scrutiny from state and federal regulators for allowing sellers to price gouge on their sites. Whether online marketplaces can be held liable for the pricing practices of their users will likely vary based on state law, the potential application of certain defenses, and the characteristics of the specific platform. Third, price gouging laws and enforcement priorities vary state-by-state and country-by- country. A single pricing decision may be lawful in one jurisdiction but unlawful in another. Fourth, responses to price gouging during this pandemic are still evolving. Some jurisdictions have taken executive and legislative actions to bolster their existing price gouging laws to allow for a more targeted response to the COVID-19 crisis, and more are sure to follow. -
Gov. Brown Extends Ban on Price-Gouging to Six Months October 25
Item 6,a.(1) CALIFORNIA APARTMENT ASSOCIATION Gov. Brown extends ban on price-gouging to six months October 25. 2017 Of RENT INCREASES LIMITED TO 10 PERCENT Under an executive order by Gov. Jerry Brown, protections against price-gouging in the wake of the North Bay fires — including rent increases over 10 percent — will be in effect until at least April of next year. The ban on price gouging, which originally had a 30-day time limit, is now in effect until April 18, 2018. ONLINE RESOURCES • CAA Wildfire Resource Center » • New! Industry Insight: Anti-Price Gouging Laws - States of Emergency • Attorney General’s Office:FAQs on Price Gouging The state’s anti-price gouging law went into effect earlier this month after the president and governor issued a state of emergency in California. These protections prohibit raising the price of many consumer goods and services, including that of rental housing, by more than 10 percent after an emergency has been declared. Protections under California’s anti-price-gouging law are not restricted to the city or county where the disaster occurred. The aim is to prevent price gouging anywhere in the state with an increased consumer demand resulting from the declared emergency. State or local officials can extend disaster declarations for additional 30-day periods after the initial declaration expires. Because the price-gouging law does not set clear parameters for determining where the price controls apply, rent increases exceeding 10 percent — anywhere in California — may constitute price gouging while the declaration is in effect. Members who are unsure whether the price CALIFORNIA APARTMENT ASSOCIATION controls apply to their property should seek the advice of an attorney before implementing any increase of more than 10 percent. -
Monopoly Pricing in a Time of Shortage James I
Loyola University Chicago Law Journal Volume 33 Article 6 Issue 4 Summer 2002 2002 Monopoly Pricing in a Time of Shortage James I. Serota Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. Follow this and additional works at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/luclj Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation James I. Serota, Monopoly Pricing in a Time of Shortage, 33 Loy. U. Chi. L. J. 791 (2002). Available at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/luclj/vol33/iss4/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by LAW eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola University Chicago Law Journal by an authorized administrator of LAW eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Monopoly Pricing in a Time of Shortage James L Serota* I. INTRODUCTION Traditionally, the electric power industry has been heavily regulated at both the federal and state levels. Recently, the industry has been evolving towards increasing emphasis on market competition and less pervasive regulation. Much of the initial impetus for change has occurred during periods of reduced demand and increased supply. More recently, increases in demand and supply shortages have led to brownouts, rolling blackouts, price spikes and accusations of "price gouging."' The purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying economic and legal bases for regulation and antitrust actions, and the antitrust ground rules for assessing liability for "monopoly pricing in times of shortage." In this author's view, price changes in response to demand are the normal reaction of a competitive market, and efforts to limit price changes in the name of "price gouging" represent an effort to return to pervasive regulation of electricity. -
Prices in a Time of Corona: the Law and Economics of Price-Gouging
Prices in a time of corona: the law and economics of price-gouging Thomas Spencer, EPICENTER The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted widespread calls for stricter regulation of price gouging across the European Union. Whilst the calls come from a good place, they are ignorant of the economic costs that this will impose. The TFEU already provides sufficient restrictions on price gouging, and any further efforts to clamp down on the practice would harm consumers. Where an economic shock occurs, prices will often rise. If regulators were to intervene to prevent rising prices, then in the short run this would lead to those who need vital supplies the most being unable to procure them, and in the long-run it will ensure that any shortages that do occur become much worse. Instead, the European Commission should use the tools they already have at their disposal, which provide an effective mechanism against the more egregious offences. The powers of the Commission The main instrument the European Commission has at its disposal to act against price gouging is through Article 102 TFEU. This provision prohibits “any abuse by one or more undertakings of a dominant position within the internal market”. The treaty provides a non-exhaustive list of actions that could be prohibited. The most relevant of these prohibits “directly or indirectly imposing (an) unfair purchase price”. The key case defining how this works is United Brands v Commission [1978] ECR 207. This laid out that a price is unfair where it “has no reasonable relation to the economic value of the product”. -
Market Power and Regulation
THE PRIZE IN ECONOMIC SCIENCES 2014 POPULAR SCIENCE BACKGROUND Market power and regulation Jean Tirole is one of the most infuential economists of our time. He has made important theoretical research contributions in a number of areas, but most of all he has clarifed how to understand and regulate industries with a few powerful frms. Tirole is awarded this year’s prize for his analysis of market power and regulation. Regulation is difficult Which activities should be conducted as public services and which should be left to private frms is a question that is always relevant. Many governments have opened up public monopolies to private stakeholders. This has applied to industries such as railways, highways, water, post and telecom- munications – but also to the provision of schooling and healthcare. The experiences resulting from these privatizations have been mixed and it has often been more difcult than anticipated to get private frms to behave in the desired way. There are two main difculties. First, many markets are dominated by a few frms that all infuence prices, volumes and quality. Traditional economic theory does not deal with this case, known as an oligopoly, instead it presupposes a single monopoly or what is known as perfect competition. The second difculty is that the regulatory authority lacks information about the frms’ costs and the quality of the goods and services they deliver. This lack of knowledge often provides regulated frms with a natural advantage. Before Tirole In the 1980s, before Tirole published his frst work, research into regulation was relatively sparse, mostly dealing with how the government can intervene and control pricing in the two extremes of monopoly and perfect competition. -
The Future of Finance
THE TOULOUSE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS MAGAZINE Living economics #16 SPRING THE FUTURE 2018 OF FINANCE Daniel Ershov on Johannes Hörner Ariel Pakes on Patrick Pouyanné the Google Play on how Waze uses why industrial on the energy Store its users organization matters challenge Editor�' message #16 Content� Looking New� & event� to the future 4 Appointments & prizes 5 Save the date Last year marked TSE’s 10th anniversary, a milestone in the long history of economics in Toulouse. 2017 also saw our endowment strengthened through the renewal of our Laboratoire d’Excellence status and an exciting new certification for our “CHESS” graduate school project - Challenges in Economics and Christian Gollier Quantitative Social Sciences. We are grateful for and proud of these strong signals of support which will help our institution tremendously. Researc� TSE wasn’t built in a day. It took more than 30 years for Jean- 6 Reducing search costs Jacques Laffont and the leading academic peers he convinced THE FUTURE Daniel Ershov to join him to accomplish his dream of building a world-class economics department in Toulouse with bright, intense academic OF FINANCE 8 Why would Waze life. We are lucky to be now living that dream, but our ambition send you off-track? for this new year does not waver. We want to aim higher Johannes Hörner and attract the very best talents to the south of France. Our Jean Tirole minds are focused on the future; our new building, now almost 16 Jean Tirole complete, will be another great asset in making our community one of the best Th inker� places in Europe to do research. -
State Price Gouging Laws
State Price Gouging Laws Generally, when a state’s governor declares a “state of emergency,” this automatically puts the state’s “price gouging” law into place. However, there are some exceptions; for example, in Tennessee, the price gouging law is triggered by a declaration of “abnormal economic disruption.” To learn more about actions and authorities triggered by state emergency declarations, visit the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials here. Following is a chart showing which states have a price gouging law. Some laws are enacted through the state’s legislature while some laws are put in place by the state’s office of Attorney General. Where available, we have also included pending legislation. All states give consumers the ability to file a complaint; read more from your state’s Consumer Protection Offices here. Many states and the District of Columbia have declared a state of emergency; read more in the Notes section below. State Price Gouging Law Notes/State of Emergency Notices Alabama Alabama Unconscionable Pricing Act Makes it unlawful for anyone to raise prices on commodities or lodging by more than 25 percent during a declared state of emergency. To avoid violation, figure the price charged for each of the previous 30 days. Add the 30 daily prices, divide by 30, and multiply the price by .25, or 25 percent, to determine the maximum price increase allowed for any one day. The exception is if a wholesale price increases by more than 25 percent and merchants have no choice but to pass along the price increase. [Type here] The fine for violations can be up to $1,000 per incident. -
The Epipen Controversy Byron a Ellis – September 03, 2016
The EpiPen Controversy Byron A Ellis – September 03, 2016 The Jethro Project - Heather Bresch, Mylan Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the daughter of Senator Manchin, former governor of West Virginia, worked as a clerk for Mylan, a generic drug company in 1992 and became its CEO in 2012. When her father was Governor of West Virginia, West Virginia University (WVU) granted her a Master of Business Administration degree without having fulfilled all requirements. The degree was later rescinded, and WVU President Mike Garrison, provost Gerald Lang, and business-school dean R. Stephen Sears resigned. Mylan, under the leadership of Senator Manchin’s daughter, completed a corporate tax inversion plan in 2015 and moved to the Netherlands, a country with lower tax rates. In 2007, Mylan acquired from Merck the rights to the legacy EpiPen drug, used to treat anaphylaxis. It lobbied the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to broaden the EpiPen label, as well as Congress to pass legislation for making the EpiPen available in schools; both actions opened broader markets for the EpiPen product. While acquiring larger markets, Mylan was simultaneously increasing the EpiPen price from under $100 to around $600. Many parents needing the lifesaving EpiPen drug for their kids believe that the price hikes are a form of price gouging. As a result, some members of Congress have called for investigations of the exorbitant price increases. Mylan reacted to the public outrage by proposing two different prices for the same product. The practice of charging different prices for the same good or service is known as price discrimination. -
Programme Booklet
Programme 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences 23 – 26 August 2017 MEETING APP TABLE OF CONTENTS WANT TO STAY UP TO DATE? Download the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings App. Available in Android and iTunes app stores. (“Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings”) Scientific Programme page 8 About the Meetings page 34 • Up-to-date programme info & details • Session abstracts Supporters page 38 • Ask questions during panel discussions • Participate in polls and surveys Maps page 46 • Interactive maps • Connect to other participants Good to Know page 54 • Social media integration Download the app (Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings) in Android, iTunes or Windows Phone app stores. Within the app, use the passphrase “marketpower” to download the guide for the 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences. 2 3 WELCOME WELCOME The 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences takes place during a climate With every meeting, we aim to further increase the opportunities of dia- of intense debate in society and science. Radical ideologies and re-emerging logue between laureates and young economists. This year, we are expand- separatist or nationalist sentiments add to a growing sense of insecurity ing formats of exchange into afternoon seminars: Selected economists will and isolation. Recent political decisions and their consequences are signs of have the opportunity to present their work to a group of laureates. Com- a global volatility. Further uncertainty is created by the trend of post-factual munication during the week will be improved by a meeting app that allows statements and science denial in public discourse. James J. Heckman gives up-to-date programme information. a possible response to this dilemma in a video on the future of economics: The Lindau Science Trail, a public exhibition project integrating science into “Empirical economics that’s grounded in solid data is a vaccine against this the Lindau city space, is a new addition to our outreach efforts as part of our post-truth world.” “Mission Education”. -
Macroeconomics 4
Macroeconomics IV Bocconi University Ph.D. in Economics Spring 2021 Instructor: Luigi Iovino Time: Th. 16:30 – 18:00 Email: [email protected] F.10:20 – 11:50 TA: Andrea Pasqualini Email: [email protected] Course description. This course is divided into three parts. In the first part, we will cover the workhorse New-Keynesian model. We will use this model to draw normative lessons for monetary policy, both with and without commitment of the Central Bank. We will also discuss the empirical evidence quantifying the importance of nominal rigidities. The second part of the course focuses on the effect of financial frictions on macroeconomic outcomes. Loosely speaking, financial frictions refer to the informational, behavioral, or insti- tutional features that constrain the flow of resources from savers to potential investors or con- sumers. This course introduces some of these frictions and analyzes their effect on investment, consumption, asset prices, financial crises, and business cycles. In the third part, we will study models with informational frictions. Starting from the seminal work of Lucas (1972) on money non-neutrality, the course will cover the business-cycle proper- ties of models with dispersed information and the social value of information. We will discuss (most of) the papers marked with an asterisk. The other papers are recom- mended to those who are interested in the topic. 1 The New Keynesian Model Theory * Jordi Gal´ı. Monetary policy, inflation, and the business cycle: an introduction to the new Keynesian framework and its applications. Princeton University Press, 2015 • Carl E Walsh. Monetary theory and policy. -
IO Reading List
Economics 257 – MGTECON 630 Fall 2020 Professor José Ignacio Cuesta [email protected] Professor Liran Einav [email protected] Professor Paulo Somaini [email protected] Industrial Organization I: Reading List I. Imperfect Competition: Background Bresnahan, Tim “Empirical Studies with Market Power,” Handbook of Industrial Organization, vol. II, chap. 17. Einav, Liran and Jonathan Levin. “Empirical Industrial Organization: A Progress Report,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(2), 145-162 (2010). Tirole, Jean. The Theory of Industrial Organization, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988. A. Test of Market Power Ashenfelter, O., and D. Sullivan, “Nonparametric Tests of Market Structure: An Application to the Cigarette Industry,” Journal of Industrial Economics 35, 483-498, (1989). Baker, J., and T. Bresnahan, “Estimating the residual demand curve facing a single firm,” International Journal of Industrial Organization 6(3), 283-300, (1988). Corts, K., “Conduct Parameters and the Measurement of Market Power,” Journal of Econometrics 88, 227-225, (1999). Genesove, D. and W. Mullin, “Testing Static Oligopoly Models: Conduct and Cost in the Sugar Industry, 1890-1914,” Rand Journal of Economics 29(2), 355-377, (1989). Stigler, G. “A Theory of Oligopoly,” The Journal of Political Economy, 72(1), 44-61, (1964) Sumner, D., “Measurement of Monopoly Behavior: An Application to the Cigarette Industry,” Journal of Political Economy 89, 1010-1019, (1981). Wolfram, C., “Measurement of Monopoly Behavior: An Application to the Cigarette Industry,” American Economic Review 89($), 805-826, (1999). B. Differentiated Products Anderson, S. P., A. de Palma, and J. F. Thisse, Discrete Choice Theory of Product Differentiation, Chapters 1-5, Cambridge: MIT Press, (1992). Caplin, A., and B.