Asymmetry and Rigidity in Farm‐Retail Price Transmission
证明零售价格传导的不对称性源于空间竞争零售商面对凹形空间需求时的跨期优化行为，并指出激烈竞争未必带来农民期望的零售价格下降；当存在重定价成本时，零售价格在农场价格波动中呈现刚性，建议使用Tobit模型而非不可逆函数进行估计。
Abstract This article demonstrates how retail‐price transmission asymmetry can arise from intertemporal optimizing behavior among spatially competitive retailers facing concave spatial demand and shows that vigorous competition among retailers may not necessarily result in the larger retail‐price declines farmers expect during periods of declining farm prices. It also shows that, when this particular class of retailers incurs repricing costs, retail prices can be rigid over a range of upward and downward movements in the farm price. This suggests that the rigidity of retail prices, during periods of declining farm prices, could be due to repricing costs. It also suggests that the appropriate econometric model of price‐transmission is the model of friction, where Tobit analysis is the proper method of estimation rather than nonreversible functions.