Monetary Policy in Latin America: Underpinnings and Procedures

This paper studies the shift in the role of monetary policy in Latin America during the 1990s. As in most industrial economies, in Latin America there has been a refocusing of the objectives pursued by monetary policy towards the achievement of price stabMonetary policy, central banking, Latin america

Are supermarkets squeezing small suppliers? evidence from negotiated wholesale prices

Conventional wisdom is that big-box retailers squeeze the profits of small suppliers. Underlying this belief is the assumption that relative market size is the primary source of bargaining leverage. Using actual wholesale prices, we study profit-sharing between large retailers and suppliers of different size. We find that the median supplier earns 42% of the channel surplus, and that some very small suppliers attain a share of the channel surplus close to that of the largest supplier (about 68%). Using a Nash bargaining model, we find that small suppliers can gain bargaining leverage by maintaining a base of loyal customers.We thank Gregory S. Crawford for his encouragement and insightful comments. We also thank Victor Aguirregabiria, Ozlem Bedre, Meghan Busse, Jean-Pierre Dub € e, David Genesove, Margaret Kyle, Rafael Moner-Colonques, Ariel Pakes, Michelle Sovinsky, Michael Waterson, Ali Yurukoglu and the seminar participants at the NBER IO Winter Meetings 2012, CEPR-JIE Conference on Applied IO 2012, Hebrew University, Toulouse School of Economics, Universidad Diego Portales, Universidad de Chile, the University of Warwick and University of Zurich. Noton acknowledges financial support from the Institute for Research in Market Imperfections and Public Policy, ICM IS130002, Ministerio de Economıa. An earlier version of this article circulated under the title ‘Revealing Bargaining Power through Actual Wholesale Prices’

Dynamic effects of price promotions: field evidence, consumer search, and supply-side implications

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.This paper investigates the dynamic effects of price promotions in a retail setting through the use of a large-scale field experiment varying the promotion depths of 170 products across 17 categories in 10 supermarkets of a major retailer in Chile. In the intervention phase of the experiment, treated customers were exposed to deep discounts (approximately 30%), whereas control customers were exposed to shallow discounts (approximately 10%). In the subsequent measurement phase, the promotion schedule held discount levels constant across groups. We find that treated customers were 22.4% more likely to buy promoted items than their control counterparts, despite facing the same promotional deals. Strikingly, the magnitude of the dynamic effects of price promotions (when promotional depths are equal across conditions) is 61% of the promotional effects induced by offering shallow vs. deep discounts during the interventio

Wildlife vertebrate mortality in roads from Santa Fe Province, Argentina Mortalidad de vertebrados en caminos de la provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina

Mortality of vertebrates was monitored on 2 roads (National Road 168; NR168 and Provincial Road 1; PR1) in Santa Fe Province (Argentina) from October 2007 to August 2008. These roads differed in traffic volume and surrounding landscape management conditions. We also investigated the influence of environmental variables (mean monthly air temperature and monthly total rainfall) on the incidence of road kills. Two people monitored the roads on foot (1 000-m line transects), 3 times a month (36 samples per road). We found 2 024 vertebrate road killed specimens representing 61 species (7 amphibians, 15 reptiles, 32 birds, and 7 mammals). The toad Rhinella fernandezae was the most frequently killed species (n = 1307, 64.57%). NR168 had a higher incidence of vertebrate road kills, particularity for amphibians, whereas birds had a higher incidence of road kills on PR1. We found a positive correlation between precipitation and temperature with vertebrate road kills on PR1. We suggest that vertebrate road mortality is a very serious problem for the conservation of the biodiversity in Santa Fe Province-Argentina, therefore implementing mitigation measures will be necessary.Se estudió la mortalidad de vertebrados en 2 rutas (RP1: Ruta Provincial N° 1 y RN168: Ruta Nacional N° 168) de la Provincia de Santa Fe (Argentina) desde octubre de 2007 hasta agosto de 2008. Estas rutas diferían en el tránsito vehicular y obras de infraestructura. Además, se investigó la influencia de variables climáticas (temperatura media mensual y precipitación total mensual) con el atropellamiento de la fauna silvestre. Se realizaron de 2 a 3 transectos por mes de 1 000 m cada uno, los cuales fueron recorridos a pie por 2 observadores. Un total de 2 024 vertebrados fueron registrados distribuidos en 61 taxa (7 anfibios, 15 reptiles, 32 aves y 7 mamíferos). La especie más impactada fue el sapo Rhinella fernandezae (n = 1307, 64.57%). La RN168 presentó una alta abundancia de vertebrados particularmente de anfibios, mientras que las aves fueron más representativas en la RP1. Se encontró una correlación positiva entre las variables ambientales (precipitación y temperatura) con la mortalidad de vertebrados en la RP1. Sugerimos que la mortandad de vertebrados en la Provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina, es un problema serio para la conservación de la biodiversidad, siendo necesaria la implementación de medidas de mitigación