Basu (2006) argues that the prevalence of 99 cent prices in shops can be explained with rational consumers who disregard the rightmost digits of the price. This bounded rational behaviour leads to a Bertrand equi- librium with positive markups. We use data from an Austrian price com- parison...

This study proposes a set of indicators for monitoring and evaluation of agricultural policy, patterned after the support estimates of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The main indicators are: producer support (incorporating indirect market support, and direct...

This paper studies the structural impact of wage and price control policies in socialist transitional economies using a two-sector three-factor small open economy model. It illustrates the results quantitatively via simulation exercises. At the earlier stage of the transition when labor is...

The paper examines the underlying political economy motivations of the government's policy responses to food price increases in 2007/08 focusing particularly on maize as the main staple crop. The main government policy responses to the food price spikes in 2007/08 were price control, bans on...

To reduce the competition from farmers who self-produce seed, an inbred line seed producercan switch to nondurable hybrid seed. In a two-period model we investigate the impactof crop durability on self-production, pricing and switching decisions, and we examine theimpact of license fees paid by...

Strong procyclical fluctuations in the durable production are the most prominent featureof the empirical response to monetary shocks. This paper investigates the role of preferencesin matching this feature of the data in a two-sector sticky price model with flexibly priceddurables. The reaction...