How integrated are world beef markets? The case of Australian and U.S. beef markets
研究了澳大利亚和美国农场牛肉价格是否一体化，发现两者虽存在长期均衡关系但并非完全整合，且澳大利亚价格不能直接作为世界价格使用。
Abstract The objective of the paper is to examine market integration between Australian and U.S. beef prices at the farmgate level. If these two prices are found to be integrated then it can be alleged that Australian beef prices can be used as a world price in empirical analyses and/or as a ‘reference price’ to measure the level of support accorded the U.S. beef sector. Co‐integration analysis and a time‐varying parameter estimation procedure based on the Kalman filter model are applied. The paper distinguishes between steer and cow beef segments and it uses monthly data over the 1972:1 to 1993:2 period. The results indicate that Australian and U.S. beef prices are co‐integrated, albeit not fully and that the degree of convergence between the various price pairs has not substantially increased over time. The results also suggest that Australian prices can not unequivocally be adopted as a world price in empirical analyses.