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The Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted the grain flows from that region and worldwide. These changes are critical due to the war’s influence on logistical costs, routes and capacities. As a result of the invasion, Ukraine has evolved from having some of the lowest logistical costs in the world to having the highest logistical cost. Logistics are critical for international competitiveness in commodities, and due to the invasion, these functions have been severely affected. Essential features for a logistical competition include internal logistical functions and costs, quality, port capacity and ocean shipping costs, each compounded by seasonal demands. This paper’s purpose is to analyze the effects of the Russian invasion on the logistical functions and the costs for corn exports from Ukraine and its competitors using an optimized Monte Carlo simulation model. The findings indicate that before the invasion, Ukraine had logistical advantages for shipments to the European Union (EU) and was highly competitive in Indonesia and China; the United States had a logistical cost advantage over Ukraine to serve China, South Korea (from the U.S. Gulf) and Japan (from the Pacific Northwest (PNW)). The changes due to the invasion are substantial. Most important is the radical increase in shipping costs from Ukraine, reduced port capacity and export supplies. However, concurrent with the invasion were changes in some critical trade and marketing policies, thus influencing the international competition for corn.

The objective of this paper was twofold. First, we estimated consumer preferences for an Italian cheese (Provolone Valpadana) with respect to several attributes and levels, such as price, origin certification, production system, &lsquo, free from&rsquo, labelling, and brand. Second, we identified consumer clusters with similar preferences for various cheese characteristics. Preferences were estimated using the conjoint analysis method. Then, a cluster analysis was used to classify consumers into different (three) clusters followed by a market simulation. In all three clusters, the attribute most preferred by Italian consumers was the brand of the cheese: consumers preferred to purchase Provolone cheese having the lowest price, produced by Auricchio, bearing a European Union (EU) quality certification, produced organically, and non-lactose-free. The results of our study provide helpful information to food companies for better segmenting their market and targeting their consumers, as well as effectively promoting their products using brands, certifications as organic and lactose-free. This study contributes to the literature on consumer preference for the EU labelling scheme (voluntary and mandatory). To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate this combination of multiple labels displayed on the front of Italian cheese packaging.

Devolving property rights to local institutions has emerged as a compelling management strategy for natural resource management in developing countries. The use of property rights among fishing cooperatives operating in Mexico's Gulf of California provides a compelling setting for theoretical and empirical analysis. A dynamic theoretical model demonstrates how fishing cooperatives' management choices are shaped by the presence of property rights, the mobility of resources, and predictable environmental fluctuations. More aggressive management comes in the form of the cooperative leadership paying lower prices to cooperative members for their catch, as lower prices disincentivize fishing effort. The model's implications are empirically tested using three years of daily logbook data on prices and catches for three cooperatives from the Gulf of California. One cooperative enjoys property rights while the other two do not. There is empirical evidence in support of the model: compared to the other cooperatives, the cooperative with strong property rights pays members a lower price, pays especially lower prices for less mobile species, and decreases prices when environmental fluctuations cause population growth rates to fall. The results from this case study demonstrate the viability of cooperative management of resources but also point toward quantitatively important limitations created by the mismatch between the scale of a property right and the scale of a resource.

The Telecommunications Sector Assessment Note in the Palestinian territories is a knowledge product prepared by the World Bank in response to a specific request from the Palestinian Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MTIT) to assess the performance of the telecommunications sector, identify specific issues and make recommendations for further development and reform.

The existence of a sound financial consumer protection framework is fundamental to increasing access to and usage of financial services, and the quality of those financial services, along with supporting further financial sector deepening. Financial consumer protection is a necessary precursor to building trust in the formal financial sector and thus in encouraging financial inclusion. Further, consumer protection helps ensure that expanded access benefits consumers and the economy as a whole. While increased access can result in significant economic and societal benefits, it can be neutral or even harmful if consumers: (i) cannot exercise their rights as consumers, (ii) cannot select the financial products that suit them best; and (iii) are not protected from mis-selling, fraud, and other market abuses. The main objective of a CPFL Review is to assess the legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks for financial consumer protection in a country, with reference to the good practices. The following areas are addressed: (i) institutional arrangements, (ii) the legal and regulatory framework, (iii) transparency and disclosure, (iv) business practices, (v) complaints handling and dispute resolution mechanisms and (vi) financial literacy/capability. All parts of a financial sector can be considered, including banking, non-bank credit institutions, insurance, securities, private pensions, and credit reporting.

Like many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal has struggled to develop its industrial sector in the face of import competition. For basic food products, there is an implicit trade-off between the objectives of maintaining employment and lowering the cost of living, both of which figure prominently in current government policy. Conflicting pressures have led to a rather inconsistent policy mix of high levels of protection with price ceilings. The products of the three industries examined here—sugar, vegetable oil, and flour—account for roughly 14 percent of the consumption basket of the poor, so distortions in their prices can have a significant effect on poverty reduction. This paper compares domestic prices in Senegal with world prices since 2000, and then explains the difference by examining the protection enjoyed by these industries, along with their market structure. The analysis finds that high protection and market power have resulted in domestic prices which were often two or three times the equivalent world price. Tightening of price ceilings and some liberalization have taken place recently, but consumers have continued to pay above world prices for sugar and edible oil in 2014. The paper estimates that if this differential were eliminated, the purchasing power of households around the poverty line would increase by 3 percent, 227,000 people would move above the poverty line, and the national poverty rate would drop by 1.9 percentage points. The cost to consumers far exceeds the total wage bill paid by these industries. Further liberalization of these industries is recommended, along with phasing out price controls and shifting government policy from protecting traditional enterprises to the promotion of new export-oriented ones.

Policy attitude towards trade integration and foreign direct investment (FDI) is often a controversial yet popular subject. This note presents evidences from recent policy researches that arguing that engaging in an open trade and investment regime have brought productivity gains which is key factor for sustaining increase in income per-capita. Evidence from Indonesia also suggests that foreign owned plants have become increasingly important, generating a significant share of exports and overall output, as well as more productive and more export intensive than domestic plants, and to spend more on RD and training. FDI also have positive impact on firms in the same sector, through competition and demonstration effects, and in upstream sectors, as suppliers to foreign-owned plants improve the quality of their own products to meet their clients more exacting needs. Evidence also suggests a positive impact from import competition in improving allocative efficiency across manufacturing plants which is a key element in driving productivity in manufacturing sector.

Kenya s economy has undergone a significant process of structural transformation over the last decade. Since 2002, the economy has shown an accelerating trend with GDP growth increasing steadily from below 1 percent in 2002 to 7 percent in 2007. After a slowdown in GDP growth to 1.5 percent and 2.7 percent in 2008 and 2009 respectively, economic growth started to rebound in 2010. Amidst this positive growth context, in October 2013, the Kenyan Government launched the Second Medium-Term Plan (MTP-2) of the Vision 2030. The aim of Kenya s Vision 2030 is to create a globally competitive and prosperous country with a high quality of life by 2030 and to shift the country s status to upper-middle income level.

Market share models for weekly store-level data are useful to understand competitive structures by delivering own and cross price elasticities. These models can however not be used to examine which brands lose share to which brands during a specificperiod of time. It is for this purpose that we propose a new model, which does allow for such an examination. We illustrate the model for two product categories in two markets, and we show that our model has validity in terms of both in-sample fit and out-of-sample forecasting. We also demonstrate how our model can be used to decompose own and cross price elasticities to get additional insights into the competitive structure.

Kenya’s textile and apparel sector has the potential to play a key role in anchoring the country’s deeper movement into middle income status and in serving as a source of gainful employment for its fast growing, young population. As a manufactured good, it offers opportunities for increased value capture and streamlined trade logistics and for the building of skills and experience from the factory floor to management level. Based on these foundations, it therefore serves as a potential gateway to other manufactured goods, offering opportunities for Kenya to capture an increasing share of global trade and to advance economic diversification. The report is structured as follows: chapter two describes global and regional market trends in textile and apparel. Chapter three reviews the evolution, growth, and performance of the apparel sector in Kenya and then analyzes the sector in terms of markets, products, and stakeholders. Chapter four focuses on Kenya’s performance in terms of relevant macro indicators and highlights the critical constraints faced by apparel manufacturers and exporters in Kenya. Chapter five concludes with recommendations. Where possible, chapters end with a summary of key points and conclusions.

This article analyzes the relationship between export competitiveness and investment in machinery, allowing for imperfect substitution between domestically produced and imported machinery. A trans log export price function is estimated for developed, export oriented developing, and import substituting developing economies in a panel data setting. Between 1967 and 1990 imported machinery helped lower export prices for export oriented developing economies. Moreover, throughout the period imported machinery was not a substitute for domestic machinery. Import substituting developing economies was unable to harness imported machinery to reduce costs early in the period, but from about the early 1980s, with the opening of their trade regimes, they were able to benefit from the cost reducing effect. The results imply that innovative effort based on imported technologies can be a precursor to the development of domestic innovation capabilities.

We develop a model of bidding markets with financial constraints a la Che and Gale (1998b) in which two firms optimally choose their budgets. First, we provide an alternative explanation for the dispersion of markups and “money left on the table” across procurement auctions. Interestingly, this explanation does not hinge on significant private information but on differences, both endogenous and exogenous, in the availability of financial resources. Second, we explain why the empirical analysis of the size of markups may be biased downwards or upwards with a bias positively correlated with the availability of financial resources when the researcher assumes that the data are generated by the standard auction model. Third, we show that large concentration and persistent asymmetries in market shares together with occasional leadership reversals can arise as a consequence of the firms internal financial decisions even in the absence of exogenous shocks.

In fiscal year 2010-11, India's economy has expanded at a rate close to that observed prior to the global financial crisis. However, growth in the second half of the year slowed, and the performance of industry and investment has been particularly disappointing. Despite some fiscal consolidation and monetary tightening, inflation has emerged as a serious concern because of its effects on the poor, who are usually less able to protect themselves against rising prices, and because of its dampening effects on long-term investment, which is sensitive to interest rate expectations. India's economic growth reached 8.5 percent, helped by a strong rebound of the agriculture sector because of good rains in the 2010 monsoon season against the near-drought conditions of 2009. On the external side, exports staged an extraordinary recovery and the current account deficit narrowed, while capital flows slowed driven by a pronounced decline in foreign direct investment. Foreign institutional investment remained robust, however, and external borrowing increased to compensate partially for the decline in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The rupee remained stable against the U.S. dollar but showed a small real appreciation against a 36-currency trade weighted index, and Reserve Bank of India foreign reserves increased to more than $310 billion. The central government budget deficit for FY2010-11 is estimated to have reached 6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an important contraction from the widened fiscal stance of FY2009-10. Budget implementation benefited from higher-than-expected growth in nominal GDP and related higher tax intake; although the tax-to-GDP ratio is still significantly lower than in FY2007-08. The spending-to-GDP ratio, on the other hand, was reduced by 0.7 percent of GDP despite two supplementary demands for grants.

Sri Lanka's population is still largely rural, nearly 85 percent lives outside of cities. There will probably be rural-to-urban migration in the future, which represents a potential opportunity to m-money providers. People working in cities often wish to repatriate their savings to their rural families conveniently and at a low cost. Income is fairly evenly spread across Sri Lanka s provinces, with the exception of the Western Province where Colombo, the largest city, is situated. Its GDP per capita places Sri Lanka near the average of comparable Southeast Asian countries. Malaysia is clearly an outlier with a considerably higher GDP per capita, but Sri Lanka s GDP is higher than that of the Philippines, where m-money has taken off dramatically. Poverty is less of a problem in Sri Lanka relative to countries like Bangladesh or Cambodia, where GDP per capita is much lower. The key point is that Sri Lanka is at a different stage in its economic development and is unlikely to have the same socioeconomic conditions that made m-money in Kenya accelerate so rapidly.

This report on Sudan's Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) provides a baseline assessment of challenges to productivity, diversification and inclusion. Chapter 1 describes some of the questions underlying the three issues of competitiveness, diversification and broad-based growth. Chapter 2 analyzes firm performance and competitiveness. Chapter 3 discusses markets and trust. Chapter 4 describes the role of the financial sector. Chapter 5 analyses the informal sector. Chapter 6 discusses the conflict-affected private sector development. Chapter 7 discusses regional inclusion, and Chapter 8 makes some preliminary conclusions and recommendations.

Production in 2004 was actually running higher than consumption prior to 1995 and this has caused the existence of a world surplus of baled cotton in the form of stocks in warehouse. It is the existence of these “ending stocks” that has a large effect on the international price of cotton. Consumption began to outpace production in 2001 to 2003 period and this, mixed with crop disasters in various regions, caused the international price to rise. The reaction from many countries was to increase production in reaction to this. Cconsumption failed to match this increase in production, causing a fall in prices and a renewal of the world’s ending stocks.

This paper studies the price dynamics induced by strategic firm behavior in the presence of consumer learning about the uncertain quality differential of the products offered by a duopoly. It is found that consumers learn slowly and that prices converge also slowly to full-information levels. A consequence is that the incentives of firms to manipulate consumers' beliefs are persistent. Although pricing tends to be aggressive at the early stages, and average prices eventually increase over time, price wars may occur at intermediate stages of the product life cycle., We thank the Spanish Ministry of Education for partial financial support through DGCYT grants PB95-0130 and PB93-0679.

This report provides an overview of California agricultural cooperative activities in the mid-1980’s. The study identifies 227 different cooperative businesses with a total of nearly 69,000 memberships in 1986. These organizations carry out a range of functions for their members, including processing, marketing, bargaining, and providing different services such as input supplies and insurance. In several subsectors, separate cooperatives perform services at different levels in the commodity vertical system. Growers often belong to more than one cooperative. The activities of these cooperatives are analyzed by functions performed. Examples are given of cooperatives’ involvement in the almond, cotton, and fresh and processed fruit sectors. Relationships between bargaining associations and marketing/processing cooperatives are described. Explanations are given for different patterns of cooperative involvement between industries.

International audience

In this paper we investigate the degree to which two social influences, namely imitation and coordinated consumption, effectuate inequalities in the motion picture industry. We develop an agent-based model based on micro movie visitors' decision-making that generates the observed macro market outcomes. The simulation model makes use of the findings of an empirical survey amongst 1112 cinema visitors. We find that social influences explain market inequalities and that the impact of coordinated consumption on market inequalities is stronger than the impact of imitation.