Drought shocks and price adjustments in local food markets in Chile: Do product quality and marketing channel matter?
研究了干旱如何影响智利当地食品市场的价格差异，重点关注产品质量和营销渠道的作用，发现干旱冲击缩小了收获和商业化期间的市场价格差异，且高质量、不易腐烂的产品及传统市场的价格反应更强烈。
Abstract Lately, economies have been facing an increase in the frequency and magnitude of droughts, which come with potential consequences on food prices. This article aims to analyze how drought disturbances affect price differences in local food markets. Special attention is paid to differences in product quality and marketing channels. To study the mechanism behind price differences, our analysis is framed within the food market integration theory. Our methodology follows a dyadic regression approach, which allows us to exploit the panel data structure of our market price data. We use monthly Asterix potato and long shelf‐life tomato market prices from traditional markets and supermarkets in Chile. To measure drought intensity, we use remote sensing data to construct a drought index. Results show that drought shocks reduce market price differentials around harvesting and commercialization periods, which is supported by the existence of market integration. We also find that prices of high‐quality products, less perishable products, and those taken from traditional markets respond more intensively to droughts and take more time to be transmitted. A direct link between droughts and crop quality, as well as supermarkets’ larger capacity for buffer stock, may be behind these interpretations. Product differentiation and retail price rigidity arguments are also discussed.