Do retail coffee prices increase faster than they fall? Asymmetric price transmission in France, Germany and the United States

This investigation examines price transmission asymmetries (PTA) between international and retail coffee prices in the US, France and Germany. Differences in price transmission mechanisms provide evidence for disparities in market structure and market performance across countries. Although all processors of roasted coffee purchase green coffee at the same price in the international markets, one finds significant differences in retail prices among these countries. The study develops an Error Correction (EC) representation model to assess PTA of non-stationary models. Finally, it claims that identifying differences in price transmission asymmetry is an approach to compare market structure across countries.coffee, markets, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

PREDICTING COUPON USE FROM SHOPPER DEMOGRAPHIC AND BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS

We surveyed of grocery shoppers in the Northeast United States to measure how demographic characteristics and consumer behavior affect the use of four coupon types (paper, in-store, checkout, and online). We employ logit models to estimate the probability that a consumer is a regular coupon user conditioned to his/her demographic and behavioral characteristics. Readership and economizing-behavior variables have a larger impact on the probability of being a coupon user than do demographic variables, except in the case of online coupons. Our results suggest that targeting specific coupon types using demographic profiles alone is not an appropriate method of coupon distribution. Understanding behavioral characteristics of the coupon users will help target coupon offerings by various distribution methods.Consumer/Household Economics,

STRUCTURAL CHANGE, RENTS TRANSFERRING AND MARKET POWER IN THE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE MARKET: A TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

The breakdown of the International Coffee Agreement (an oligopoly of exporting countries) in 1990 led to increasing competition for market share. We use an econometric model to examine the effects of the agreement's dissolution. Results suggest a transfer of rents from producers to wholesalers and little impact on consumers.Industrial Organization,

Impact of CO2 Emission Policies on Food Supply Chain: Application to the U.S. Apple Sector

Environmental Economics and Policy,

Price Transmission Asymmetries and Nonlinearities in the International Coffee Supply Chain

We examine two distinct and important dimensions (e.g. symmetry vs. asymmetry and linearity vs. nonlinearity) of price transmission from international to retail coffee prices in France, Germany and the United States. We show that ignoring these two features of the price transmission process may lead to misleading impact assessments resulting from the elimination of International Coffee Agreement (ICA) in 1990. Our results confirm the presence of threshold effects in both periods (ICA and post ICA) in all three countries. Our estimates show that, in the long-run, the speed of adjustment toward equilibrium becomes faster during the post-ICA period in France and Germany. Our results suggest that, for these two countries, changes in international prices did not influence retail prices in the short-run during the ICA period; in contrast, retail prices responded to changes in international prices in the post-ICA period. Our results suggest differences between the two European countries and the United States. Specifically, our results indicate that changes in international prices influence U.S. retail prices in both periods. Nonlinear impulse response analysis indicates that ICA elimination in 1990 increased the speed of adjustment toward the long-run equilibrium, given a shock in international coffee prices. Our results show that ignoring nonlinearities and asymmetries in price transmission may lead to incorrect assessment of the consequences accruing to the elimination of the ICA.Threshold, Nonlinearity, Asymmetric Price Transmission, Roasted Coffee, Germany, United States, France, Error Correction Model, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, C32, Q17,

The Competitive Causes and Consequences of Customer Satisfaction

We conduct two studies to test three hypotheses: (1) Competition increases a firm's customer satisfaction; (2) Rivals' customer satisfaction increases a firm's customer satisfaction; (3) Rivals' customer satisfaction reduces a firm's sales. First, we use store-level customer satisfaction data from a supermarket chain. Next, we consider a range of industries, using brand-level customer satisfaction ratings from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Results from both studies provide support for the latter two hypotheses, while we only find support for the first hypothesis in the second study.Customer Satisfaction, Food retailing, Competitive Strategy, Consumer/Household Economics,

EFFECTS OF FOOD AND HEALTH SPENDING PATTERNS ON THE HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY

Examines linkages between food and health spending patterns, income, and health status of the elderly. Links these relationships to food insecurity and expenditures on nutraceuticals. Methodology includes simultaneous estimation of expenditure systems and health production functions. Preliminary results indicate simultaneity between health production function and spending patterns throughout the life cycle.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Evolución geológica en la cuenca baja del río Colorado durante el cenozoico, Patagonia Norte, Argentina

Climatic changes and eustatic sea levels have been assumed to be the most important controllers of the Colorado River alluvial fan in northern Patagonia. Although the alluvial fan occurs in a region considered tectonically stable, there are pieces of evidence that the Miocene Andean orogeny has reactivated inherited structures, with subsequent geomorphological changes that date back to the Pleistocene. Besides, the clear evidence of neotectonism in the region and their effects on the evolution of this fan, it has not been studied in detail yet. In this study, we map and analyze six sections outcropping in different terraces of the alluvial fan with the primary aim of disentangling the role of tectonism, climate and eustatic changes on the evolution of the alluvial fan. This study is part of a bigger project aimed to understand the origin of the shallow lakes occurring in northern Patagonia. Our results indicate that the alluvial fan of the Colorado River was established in the area around the Middle Pleistocene. Evidence of deformations in Miocene to Pleistocene units indicates significant neotectonism during the Upper Pleistocene. By the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, tectonism produced incision generating a set of terraces. After this time, an important climate change from semiarid to arid favored the calcretization of some terraces. By the Pleistocene-Middle Holocene, the terraces were covered by ancient eolian sediment accumulated during dry conditions. By the Middle Holocene, a broad alluvial fan developed in the region under a warmer and more humid climate generating the Alluvial Colorado River-III deposit at the T3 terrace. In the late Holocene, aggradation process was favored by a high sea level and temperate-arid climate, producing T4 terrace. At the same time, this climate condition favored the local deflation-sedimentation processes that resulted in the deposition of modern eolian deposits (mE) over the T3 terrace. The depressions generated by the deflation were, later on, occupied by shallow lakes when the climate turn more humid. Subsequently, during regressive sea level condition, ca. 2000 years BP, the T4 terrace was partially eroded and the modern alluvial plain formed.La evolución geológica y morfológica del abanico aluvial del río Colorado en el norte de Patagonia ha sido explicada, en su zona distal, como resultado de cambios eustáticos y climáticos. A pesar de que el abanico se encuentra en una región considerada como una zona tectónicamente estable, hay evidencia de que la orogenia andina durante el Mioceno reactivó estructuras preexistentes y produjo cambios geomorfológicos asignados al Pleistoceno. Sin embargo, la influencia de la tectónica en la evolución del abanico aluvial del río Colorado no ha sido aún estudiada. En este trabajo, se levantaron y estudiaron seis secciones que afloran en distintas terrazas del abanico aluvial del río Colorado con el objetivo principal de comprender el rol de la tectónica, los cambios climáticos y eustáticos en la evolución del abanico aluvial. Este estudio es parte de un proyecto mayor que busca entender el origen de las lagunas someras presentes en la parte norte de la Patagonia. Nuestros resultados indican que el abanico aluvial del río Colorado se estableció en el área alrededor del Pleistoceno medio. La evidencia de deformaciones en las unidades del Mioceno al Pleistoceno indica una significativa actividad neotectónica durante el Pleistoceno superior. Para la transición Pleistoceno-Holoceno, el tectonismo generó una serie de terrazas. Posteriormente, un cambio climático de semiárido a árido favoreció la calcretización de las terrazas. Durante el Pleistoceno-Holoceno medio, las terrazas fueron cubiertas por la acumulación de sedimentos eólicos antiguos en condiciones de clima seco. En el Pleistoceno medio se desarrolló un amplio abanico aluvial en la región, en un clima más cálido y húmedo, que generó los depósitos aluviales del río Colorado-III en un nuevo nivel de terraza (T3). En el Holoceno tardío, el proceso de agradación fue favorecido por un alto nivel del mar y un clima templado-árido, que produjo la terraza T4. Al mismo tiempo, estas condiciones climáticas favorecieron los procesos de deflación-sedimentación local que dieron lugar a la deposición de depósitos eólicos modernos (mE) sobre la terraza T3. Las depresiones generadas por la deflación fueron, más tarde, ocupadas por los lagos poco profundos cuando el clima se volvió más húmedo. Posteriormente, durante condiciones regresivas del nivel del mar, ca. 2000 años AP, la terraza T4 fue parcialmente erosionada y se formó la llanura aluvial moderna.Fil: Seitz, Carina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía; ArgentinaFil: Vélez, María I.. University Of Regina; CanadáFil: Perillo, Gerardo Miguel E.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología; Argentin

Systematic Analysis of Majorization in Quantum Algorithms

Motivated by the need to uncover some underlying mathematical structure of optimal quantum computation, we carry out a systematic analysis of a wide variety of quantum algorithms from the majorization theory point of view. We conclude that step-by-step majorization is found in the known instances of fast and efficient algorithms, namely in the quantum Fourier transform, in Grover's algorithm, in the hidden affine function problem, in searching by quantum adiabatic evolution and in deterministic quantum walks in continuous time solving a classically hard problem. On the other hand, the optimal quantum algorithm for parity determination, which does not provide any computational speed-up, does not show step-by-step majorization. Lack of both speed-up and step-by-step majorization is also a feature of the adiabatic quantum algorithm solving the 2-SAT ``ring of agrees'' problem. Furthermore, the quantum algorithm for the hidden affine function problem does not make use of any entanglement while it does obey majorization. All the above results give support to a step-by-step Majorization Principle necessary for optimal quantum computation.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, final versio