Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Yang M. Chang / This paper empirically examines whether there is a tendency for trade-induced price convergence - in other words if price differences among city pairs separated by a border decline with increased levels of trade. The paper examines the prices of goods in cities across Brazil and Paraguay after the implementation of MERCOSUR. Evidence of a border effect - the failure of the law of one price - between Brazil and Paraguay is found. However, the data show that since the beginning of MERCOSUR, price dispersion between Brazil and Paraguay is less for those goods that are traded more between these partners.

Retailers in the US and Japan are taking the lead where as retailers in Taiwan are working its way up to follow this lead. Consumption trend in Taiwan¡¦s society is associated with these countries. Japan launched the so-called ¡§one priced¡¨ chain stores in 1722 and the US began operating these sorts of chain stores in 1959. Taiwan hasn¡¦t got involved in this ¡§one price operating strategy¡¨ till recent years. Due to the fact that businesses are operating under a rapidly changing environments as well as facing great competition, a huge amount of enterprises are working towards an internationalized and diversified multinational company. The living standards in Taiwan have been improving over the years; consumers now tend to put more emphasis on the quality and services of the product rather than on the price of the product. Government in Taiwan loosened the importing barrier and lowered the tariff in 1987. This action encouraged foreign companies to set up firms in Taiwan which has lead to a positive growth in Taiwan¡¦s retailer industry. The retailer industry was booming in the 1990s where the price of the product was determined by the retailer rather than the manufacturer. Therefore, retailers such as convenience stores and chain retail stores were acting as an important role in leading it to success. In comparison, these ¡§one priced¡¨ chain stores are making slight amounts of profit on each item and that¡¦s where the standard and efficiency matters. It provides customers with a pleasant shopping environment and it¡¦s seen as a kind of mini department store. The expanding and diverse strategy that the company adopts enables the company to operate more efficiently than its competitors. The risks and availability of cash flow are under sustainable circumstances. Otherwise, it might result in expanding the economics of scale but miscalculating the capacity of the market. It is suggested that evaluation of the competitive advantage is essential prior to the company becoming a multinational company. Changes in the economical, social and business environments challenge the operator¡¦s ability in dealing with these matters. Businesses are turning from physical-oriented into product-oriented competitors and that is where quality, innovation and creativity matters. In order to enhance its competitiveness, chain stores must grow by continuously improving and innovating of the products; enhancing its strategic management and backup support to create the value added product and services for the customers.

Due to there is no record of migration in China, we estimate migration by Johnson¡¦s (2003) way. Estimates of migration among the provinces of China area were made by comparison of the provincial population from the 1994 to the 2003 censuses. The estimates were made by comparing every year between 1995 and 2004 population of each province with what it would have been if population had increased solely due to national growth-the excess of births over deaths. Unfortunately, the estimate of the increase in provincial populations due to migration was much greater than the estimate of the loss of population by migration. Possible reasons for the difference in the estimates due primarily to the underestimation of immigrants. Because this difference amounts to less than 3% of the 1995-2004 population of China, the data is still useful to us. Because wage is a kind of price, we adopt the method by Engel and Rogers (1996), and use the law of one price to examine the wage differential in China area. We find that high migration gap, long distance and the presence of coast all lead to an increase in wage differential in China area. We also find that distance and border reduce differential among provinces. Note that the distance has a positive effect on wage differential, and the square of distance has a negative effect. This means the distance relationship were concave. Finally, we examine the tendency in the standard deviation of wage differential and migration gap among the provinces of China during the period 1994-2003. The standard deviation of wage differential widened, and the standard of migration gap did not display strong increasing or decreasing. Although the growth rate of wage differential was positive, it reduced in recent years. The average growth rate of migration gap was close to zero, there is not significant tendency.

The law of one price (LOP) plays an important role as a building block in theories of international trade and exchange rate determination. It also serves as a measure of integration for international commodity markets. The LOP states that in competitive markets after adjustment for transportation costs and trade barriers, identical commodities sold in different countries should sell for the same price when their prices are defined in a common currency. The existing economic literature provides a vast body of theoretical and empirical investigations of the validity of the LOP. In general, previous evidence is mixed and there is no unanimous LOP support or refutation. The effects of exchange rate changes on agricultural outputs have been extensively studied, but the issue of the impacts on traded non-farm produced inputs has not been explored as much. This study investigates the impact of the exchange rate ($CN/$US) on the relative prices in U.S. and Canadian agricultural markets for five major farm outputs and four non-farm produced inputs, which are traded between these two closely integrated economies. Adherence to the LOP is evaluated by examining the pass-through effects of exchange rate changes on these prices using quarterly data. The sample covers the period of 1975 - 1999, when there were substantial exchange rate movements. Regression and cointegration techniques are utilized to estimate whether and at what rate exchange rate changes are transmitted to prices. The empirical results give rise to supportive evidence in favor of the LOP for the five farm outputs. The evidence is somewhat weaker for three of the four non-farm produced inputs, and the LOP is violated for one input. / Master of Science

O mercado do milho no Brasil tem demonstrado algumas mudanças nos últimos anos aumentando sua importância no agronegócio. Por esse motivo, tem sido maior a necessidade de estudo de suas características. O objetivo da presente dissertação consiste em verificar como se dá a transmissão de preços entre os mercados regionais dessa commodity no Brasil a nível de produtor, com foco nos estados da região Sul e Centro-Oeste, devido à sua importância para a produção nacional. Além disso, também foi buscado analisar como os preços dos estados analisados reagem ao preço cotado na bolsa de valores para saber qual sua relação com o mercado externo. O método de pesquisa utilizado foi: teste de raiz unitária; teste de cointegração; vetor de correção de erro; teste de causalidade de Granger e teste de impulso-resposta. Os resultados do teste de cointegração indicam que há transmissão de preços entre todos os estados analisados, bem como os estados respondem a oscilações de preços do mercado externo a longo prazo. O fato de existir cointegração entre os estados é condição suficiente para se afirmar que existe relação linear de equilíbrio para a qual o sistema converge, validando os pressupostos da Lei do Preço Único e a integração. Todos os estados apresentaram resposta significativa a mudanças de preços no estado de Santa Catarina pelo vetor de correção de erro (VEC), mostrando que esse estado tem forte influência na formação de preços dos estados das duas regiões analisadas. No curto prazo foi observado que os estados de Mato Grosso e Rio Grande do Sul não recebem influência direta das oscilações de preços dos outros mercados, enquanto os estados de Paraná, Santa Catarina e Goiás parecem ser interdependentes a curto prazo, pois apresentam relativa correlação. Além disso, a função impulso resposta demonstra também que um impulso nos preços do estado de Santa Catarina gera resposta significativa nos preços dos outros estados de forma geral, e um impulso no preço do estado de Goiás também gera uma reação forte no preço do estado do Mato Grosso. / The corn market in Brazil has shown some changes in recent years increasing its importance in agribusiness. For this reason has increased the need for more studies related to this market’s characteristics . The objective of this dissertation is to check how is the price transmission between regional markets in Brazil at producer level for this commodity, focusing on states of the South and Midwest of the country, because of its importance to the national production. Furthermore, it was also sought to analyze how the prices of the analyzed states react to the price quoted on the stock market, looking for understanding how is its relationship with the external market. The research method used was: the unit root test , cointegration test , vector error correction; Granger causality test and impulse response test. The result of the cointegration test indicates that there is price transmission between all the states analyzed as well as states respond to price fluctuations on the stock market in the long run . The existence of cointegration between the states is sufficient to say that there is a linear equilibrium relationship to which converges the sistem, validating the assumptions of the Law of One Price and the integration condition. All states showed significant responses to price changes in the state of Santa Catarina by the vector error correction ( VEC ) , showing that this state has a strong influence on the pricing of the states on the two regions. In the short term it was observed that the states of Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul receive no direct influence from the prices of other markets, while the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Goiás seem to be interdependent in the short term because they present a correlation. As well, the impulse response function also shows that a surge in prices in the state of Santa Catarina generates a significant response in prices of other states in general, and a boost in the price of Goias also generates a strong reaction in the price of Mato Grosso.

In the purpose of this study we examine the long run relationship between the flower wholesale markets in Taiwan by the theory of Park (2007). The market integration is analyzed from the viewpoint of the Law of One Price (LOP). The LOP means that the products flow from the lower price markets to the higher price ones without transaction cost utill everywhere have the same price. However, in a situation that the transaction cost exists, the assumption of LOP is questionable. When the price difference between two markets exceeds the transaction cost, there is an arbitrage opportunity. This study examine the relationship between the flower wholesale markets in Taiwan by threshold cointegration theory. The result is that there indeed exists long run relationship and threshold effects. In addition, we consider a time-varing threshold cointegration model in Park (2007), to see whether there are different arbitrage behavious depending on the season between the flower wholesale markets. Finally, we have a result that the same price gap between markets in different season will be in different regime because of the change of the value of threshold. And it causes the seasonal arbitrage behavious.

Sweden, together with Norway, Finland and Denmark, have created a multi-national electricity market called NordPool. In this market, producers and retailers of electricity can buy and sell electricity, and the retailers then offers this electricity to end consumers such as households and industries. Previous studies have shown that pricing at the NordPool market is functioning quite well, but no other study has to my knowledge studied if pricing in the retail market to consumers in Sweden is well functioning. If the market is well functioning, with competition and low transaction costs when changing electricity retailer, we would expect that a homogeneous good such as electricity would be sold at the approximately same price, and that price changes would be highly correlated, in this market. Thus, the aim of this study is to test whether the price of Vattenfall, the largest energy firm in the Swedish market, is highly correlated to the price of other firms in the Swedish retail market for electricity. Descriptive statistics indicate that the price offered by Vattenfall is quite similar to the price of other firms in the market. In addition, regression analysis show that the correlation between the price of Vattenfall and other firms is as high as 0.98.

During the past decade, the law of one price and purchasing power parity theories have been empirically tested for their validity. IKEA, as a world famous furnishing company, sells identical products in different countries with different prices. The main emphasis of this paper is placed on the problem of if and why IKEA’s pricing actually departs from the law of one price and purchasing power parity. We focus on the following three main explaining factors: the existence of trade cost, the influences of non-traded parts cost of the goods, and other possible pricing behaviors of the firms. To be able to fulfill our objectives, a regression model combined with the theoretical framework and the institutional framework of IKEA have been used in this paper. The remarkable outcomes are gotten as below: (Ⅰ) The price variation still exist after removing the influences of transportation cost, trade barriers, taxes. (Ⅱ) Higher productivity contributes to higher national prices, but higher labor cost has no significant effect on price variation. (Ⅲ) Price discrimination and special market strategies in specific areas do play a role in the price variation.

O mercado do milho no Brasil tem demonstrado algumas mudanças nos últimos anos aumentando sua importância no agronegócio. Por esse motivo, tem sido maior a necessidade de estudo de suas características. O objetivo da presente dissertação consiste em verificar como se dá a transmissão de preços entre os mercados regionais dessa commodity no Brasil a nível de produtor, com foco nos estados da região Sul e Centro-Oeste, devido à sua importância para a produção nacional. Além disso, também foi buscado analisar como os preços dos estados analisados reagem ao preço cotado na bolsa de valores para saber qual sua relação com o mercado externo. O método de pesquisa utilizado foi: teste de raiz unitária; teste de cointegração; vetor de correção de erro; teste de causalidade de Granger e teste de impulso-resposta. Os resultados do teste de cointegração indicam que há transmissão de preços entre todos os estados analisados, bem como os estados respondem a oscilações de preços do mercado externo a longo prazo. O fato de existir cointegração entre os estados é condição suficiente para se afirmar que existe relação linear de equilíbrio para a qual o sistema converge, validando os pressupostos da Lei do Preço Único e a integração. Todos os estados apresentaram resposta significativa a mudanças de preços no estado de Santa Catarina pelo vetor de correção de erro (VEC), mostrando que esse estado tem forte influência na formação de preços dos estados das duas regiões analisadas. No curto prazo foi observado que os estados de Mato Grosso e Rio Grande do Sul não recebem influência direta das oscilações de preços dos outros mercados, enquanto os estados de Paraná, Santa Catarina e Goiás parecem ser interdependentes a curto prazo, pois apresentam relativa correlação. Além disso, a função impulso resposta demonstra também que um impulso nos preços do estado de Santa Catarina gera resposta significativa nos preços dos outros estados de forma geral, e um impulso no preço do estado de Goiás também gera uma reação forte no preço do estado do Mato Grosso. / The corn market in Brazil has shown some changes in recent years increasing its importance in agribusiness. For this reason has increased the need for more studies related to this market’s characteristics . The objective of this dissertation is to check how is the price transmission between regional markets in Brazil at producer level for this commodity, focusing on states of the South and Midwest of the country, because of its importance to the national production. Furthermore, it was also sought to analyze how the prices of the analyzed states react to the price quoted on the stock market, looking for understanding how is its relationship with the external market. The research method used was: the unit root test , cointegration test , vector error correction; Granger causality test and impulse response test. The result of the cointegration test indicates that there is price transmission between all the states analyzed as well as states respond to price fluctuations on the stock market in the long run . The existence of cointegration between the states is sufficient to say that there is a linear equilibrium relationship to which converges the sistem, validating the assumptions of the Law of One Price and the integration condition. All states showed significant responses to price changes in the state of Santa Catarina by the vector error correction ( VEC ) , showing that this state has a strong influence on the pricing of the states on the two regions. In the short term it was observed that the states of Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul receive no direct influence from the prices of other markets, while the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Goiás seem to be interdependent in the short term because they present a correlation. As well, the impulse response function also shows that a surge in prices in the state of Santa Catarina generates a significant response in prices of other states in general, and a boost in the price of Goias also generates a strong reaction in the price of Mato Grosso.

The thesis explains the theory of purchasing power parity and related concepts. It shows differences in prices and wages all around the globe and gives theoretical explanation of existing disparities. The goal is to find out how prices differ in reality, where costs of living are the highest or the lowest and what makes some products more or less expensive in different countries. In order to answer the questions the thesis deals with, the variety of sources was used, starting from economics textbooks, academic journals, literature reviews, the Economist website, a study of UBS 'Prices and Earnings', International Monetary Fund database and others.