On the Danish milk quota exchange each producer can submit a single bid (a quantity and a price limit) only. We demonstrate that this restriction has several distorting effects. First, traders minimise the risk of foregoing profitable trade by submitting their average valuation rather than their...

We provide a framework for evaluating potential effects of introducing tradable quotas to a sector. The effects depend on the economies of scale and scope of the production technology, and on firms' ability and willingness to learn best practice methods (catching up) and to change their input...

Real contracts balance a number of conflicting objectives that characterise the contracting situation. Contract theory provides useful insights but the formal models used in theoretical analysis tend to focus on a few effects in stylised environments. The risk of a partial approach is that while...

We consider how to organise the processing and marketing of an agricultural product when farming costs are known only by the individual farmers. We show that when marginal costs are uncorrelated, the market for final goods is competitive, and the market for processing is non-competitive, the...

The reform of the EU sugar regime involves significant price reductions for sugar and sugar beet. We examine whether the Danish sugar industry can maintain production and profit levels by reallocating production from less to more efficient farmers. The impact of alternative reallocation...