Suchergebnisse

Diese Arbeit untersucht am Beispiel Rindfleisch, wie Produktpreise in der bäuerlichen Direktvermarktung festgelegt werden. Dazu wurden Leitfadeninterviews mit Betriebsleitern durchgeführt und die betriebswirtschaftliche Preisuntergrenze für jeden Betrieb berechnet. Prinzipiell gibt es drei verschiedene Zugänge um den Preis für ein Produkt festzulegen. Die nachfrage-, die konkurrenz- und die kostenorientierte Preisbestimmung. Als wichtigste Preisbestimmungsmethode konnte in den untersuchten Betrieben die konkurrenzorientierte Preisbestimmung identifiziert werden. Die Orientierung an anderen Direktvermarktern und dem Lebensmitteleinzelhandel spielt dabei eine große Rolle. Die Berechnungsergebnisse zeigen, dass die Preise der fünf kleineren Betriebe unterhalb der langfristigen Preisuntergrenze liegen und die Wirtschaftlichkeit des Betriebszweiges somit nicht gegeben ist. Die Gründe dafür sind vor allem eine nicht oder zu niedrig bewertete Arbeitszeit und relativ hohe Fixkosten für Gebäude und Geräte. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit zeigen weiters, dass auf die Preisgestaltung der Betriebe nicht nur ökonomische, sondern auch soziale Faktoren Einfluss nehmen. Werte und Einstellungen wie die Unabhängigkeit von anderen Marktakteuren, die Selbstversorgung oder die Aufrechterhaltung und Erweiterung des sozialen Netzwerkes sind oft wichtiger als der ökonomische Erfolg. Es wird deutlich, dass die befragten Landwirte versuchen eine Balance zwischen den eigenen Interessen und denen der Kunden zu finden. Dabei steht das Vertrauen als wichtigster Baustein für die Konsumenten-Produzenten-Beziehung oft im Mittelpunkt. Gewissensfragen und die eigene Preisbereitschaft tragen ihren Teil zur Festlegung des Preises bei. ; This thesis investigates the modalities for product pricing of farmer-to-consumer direct marketers using beef as way of illustration. Seven guideline-based interviews with farmers were conducted to obtain information and calculate the price limit for every farm. Generally, there are three strategies to determine product prices - the customer value-based, the cost-based and the competition-based strategy. As most favoured pricing method, the competition-based pricing could be identified. The orientation towards other farmers and food retailers is an important issue. The results show that prices of the five smaller-scaled farms are below the long-term price limit. Therefore it is not economically reasonable for them to sell directly to consumers. The main reasons are non-existent or insufficient assessment of labour and relatively high fixed costs for buildings and equipment. Another major conclusion is that not only economic factors affect the pricing strategy but also social ones. Values and attitudes associated with independency of other supply-chain-members, food self-sufficiency or maintaining social networks are often more important than economic success. It is notable that the interviewed farmers try to find a balance between the consumers and their own interests. Trust, as a key factor in consumer-producer-relationship, is often of major importance. Hence, moral issues and the own price acceptance are also involved in the pricing process. ; eingereicht von: Philipp Maier ; Zusammenfassung in englischer Sprache ; Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Masterarbeit, 2016 ; (VLID)1935833

Online auction sites like eBay provide ways to measure what consumers buy and how much they pay. Does this imply that consumers pay similar prices, irrespective of their location? Comparing prices for homogeneous, tradable goods in the euro area and the United Kingdom, we find that prices differ significantly. The differential is not related to countries' having different currencies. However, price dispersion—the variance of prices—does seem to be smaller if two countries share a common currency. Our results confirm the importance of national borders in explaining price differences and their magnitude is related to (not) sharing a common currency. (JEL E30, E31, E50, F40)

In light of the U.S. current account deficit, pressure is high on Asian countries to revalue their currencies. The calls from some U.S. policymakers for tariffs on imports from China has sparked fears that this could trigger a world-wide surge in protectionism. This study evaluates the risk of protectionism, considering two dimensions: first, the economic effects of tariffs; second, the incentives for policymakers to adopt tariffs. Following the political economy literature, we distinguish benevolent policymakers who care about long-term GDP and myopic policymakers, for whom short-term considerations are important. An analysis of the economic effects using the Bank of Canada's Global Economy Model shows that the gains from import tariffs are small: in the short-term, tariffs raise the price of imports and shift consumption toward domestically-produced goods; but they also lead to a real appreciation. This improves the terms of trade, but falling export volumes lead to a reduction in GDP in the long-run. As regards the political dimension, we conclude that a benevolent policymaker would not adopt tariffs, because of negative long-term economic consequences, but myopic policymakers might be tempted to exploit short-term political gains. Given the potentially high costs of protectionist trade policies, protectionism is therefore rightly viewed as an important risk.

More than 80 central banks use a committee to take monetary policy decisions. The composition of the committee and the structure of the meeting can affect the quality of the decision making. In this paper we review economic, experimental, sociological and psychological studies to identify criteria for the optimal institutional setting of a monetary committee. These include the optimal size of the committee, measures to encourage independent thinking, a relatively informal structure of the meeting, and abilities to identify and evaluate individual members' performances. Using these criteria, we evaluate the composition and operation of monetary policy committees in various central banks. Our findings indicate that e.g. the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England follows committee best-practice, while the committee structure of other major central banks could be improved.

Central bank rhetoric need not always be followed by corresponding measures. In a number of regressions covering Germany, Japan, & the US, we examine differences in rhetoric & actual behavior before elections, using a standard PBC model. Our results indicate that these three central banks have not been influenced by electoral consideration in the policies they implement, but the case of the German Bundesbank indicates that it may be helpful to distinguish between rhetoric & action. 17 Tables, 3 Figures, 33 References. Adapted from the source document.

Since 2002, spreads on emerging market sovereign debt have fallen to historical lows. Given the close links between sovereign spreads, capital flows to emerging markets, and economic growth, understanding the factors driving these spreads is very important. We address this issue in two stages. First, we use factor analysis to study the extent to which emerging market bond spreads are driven by global factors, as opposed to country-specific macroeconomic fundamentals. Using data on different U.S. asset classes, we identify a common factor, linked to global financial conditions. Second, we use this common factor in a panel estimation framework to analyze the degree to which the fall in spreads is driven by better macroeconomic policies. Our results show that the common factor is not responsible for the reduction in spreads. Instead, emerging markets have benefited considerably from better macroeconomic policies, including lower inflation and lower debt. Therefore, a reversal of the benign global conditions need not necessarily have a substantial negative impact on financing conditions for emerging markets.

The authors examine the institutional and governance framework of modern central banks to determine whether there are lessons that can be applied to the International Monetary Funds' (IMF's) institutional framework. Such a comparison is appealing for two reasons. First, both central banks and the IMF carry out tasks that can be described as delegated responsibilities. Second, while monetary policy has yielded mixed results in many countries for decades, it has recently enjoyed considerable success in reducing inflation. Substantial changes to the institutional frameworks of central banks have, at least partly, contributed to this success. This raises a simple question: can the lessons learned from modern central banking help to strengthen the governance of the IMF? The authors argue they can. Governance reform would enhance the IMF's decision-making process and make the Fund more transparent and accountable, thus improving the effectiveness of its main instruments surveillance and lending. The reforms proposed by the authors in this paper should not be viewed as immediately achievable goals; rather, they constitute a set of guiding principles for long-term governance reform.