Market Structure, Marketing Method, and Price Instability
利用金属交易所和生产者定价的数据,检验市场组织与价格行为的关系,发现价格不稳定加剧主要源于对商品交易所的依赖增加,而非行业集中度下降。
Data for metals sold on commodity exchanges and at prices set by producers are used to test the relationship between the organization of markets and the behavior of prices. On the production side the question is whether prices are more stable in concentrated industries. And on the sales side the question is whether markets where buyers are consumers have more stable prices than those with consumers and speculators. The recent increase in metal-price instability is explained by changes in the market-structure and organization variables. Foremost is increased reliance on commodity exchanges. Declines in concentration are of less importance.