Learning objectives
The course aims to achieve the following objectives.
a. Knowledge and understanding: course aims to provide the main instruments for analysing and understanding price dynamics and its vertical and horizontal transmission in the agri-food markets.
b. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. Students will develop the ability to analyze the price trends of the agri-food markets and then carry out a technical-economic analysis of the market itself, useful for concluding on the efficiency of the market in question and its level of vertical and / or horizontal integration. The course aims to bring the student closer to scientific literature, in order to know its structure and learn to read works of a purely technical and scientific nature.
c. Autonomy of judgment. Students will develop a critical sense in analyzing the agri-food supply chains, its actors, and the relationships that exist between them in order to evaluate the market situation and identify any room for improvement, policies, and bottlenecks.
is. Ability to learn. The study method provided mainly includes live lectures / video lessons, in which some of the most recent and significant scientific works on the subject of price transmission are discussed and then used as examples to explain and make the student understand the economic dynamics. The exam consists in the drafting of a technical report on a market freely chosen by student(s), and can be done individually or as work-in-group. This is to foster moments of discussion and comparison between the members of the group, the division of work and apply the knowledge offered by the course.
Prerequisites
Micro&Macroeconomics
Course unit content
The Course deals with the formation, trend and dynamics of price transmission of agri-food supply chains, especially transmission within the chain (i.e., between the different stages, vertical transmission), and between spatially differentiated markets, that is geographic markets (horizontal transmission), as well as between different commodities, i.e. how the price can be transmitted between different sectors of the economy (for example the price of oil or the price of financial derivatives and the prices of agricultural products).
The aim of the course is to: i) provide students with theoretical and analytical elements aimed at studying the production organization of different markets and supply chains of agricultural products; ii) understand the dynamics of price formation and understand the behavior through the analysis of the price trends, as a fundamental element of the market analysis embedding all the implicit and explicit economic information of the market; iii) understand the dynamics of price transmission, therefore the importance of this tool for analyzing the degree of efficiency and integration of geographically different supply chains and markets, through the study and understanding of price trends at different levels of the supply chain as well as in different geographical positions and therefore be able to produce an economic commentary and political implications on a given agri-food product; finally iv) to improve the student's ability to design and to elaborate technical-economic reports in a synthetic and structured way, and of interest to policymakers as well as professionals.
Full programme
The topics covered in the course concern the following aspects:
- Agrifood products’ price and its components;
- Agricultural products: commodities&differentiated;
- Price Transmission Analysis;
- Vertical Price Transmission Analysis;
- Horizontal&Cross-Commodities Price Transmission Analysis;
- An example for empirical assessment of PT;
- Take home report;
- Reference list and further material.
Bibliography
a) Selected readings as scientific articles, technical reports from international organizations (FAO, OECD and others), book chapters in English and web material.
Antonioli, F., Ben Kaabia, M., Arfini, F. and Gil, J. M. (2019) ‘Price Transmission Dynamics for Quality‐certified Food Products: A Comparison between Conventional and Organic Fluid Milk in Italy’. Agribusiness, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 374–393.
Baffes, J. and Haniotis, T. (2016) ‘What Explains Agricultural Price Movements?’ Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 67, No. 3, pp. 706–721.
Bakucs, Z., Falkowski, J. and Ferto, I. (2014) ‘Does Market Structure Influence Price Transmission in the Agro-Food Sector? A Meta-Analysis Perspective’. Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 65, No. 1, pp. 1–25.
European Commission (2009) Analysis of Price Transmission along the Food Supply Chain in the EU (Bruxelles: European Commission).
Teaching methods
Live Lectures / Recorded Lessons;
Analysis of academic works;
Work-in-group.
Assessment methods and criteria
- Individual / group practical test. The student (s) will have to face a concrete case of description and analysis of one or more agri-food markets of their choice, characterizing the markets in terms of actors and relationships between them, relevant economic events that have occurred in the period studied, analysis of the / the price (s) chosen and finally the economic implications that the student (s) derive from their analysis. Alternatively, the drafting of a literature review paper is also proposed in which conclusions are drawn on one or more agri-food markets by analyzing the scientific literature published on the subject.
The report must have a maximum length of 10 pages, Times New Roman 12 font, line spacing 1.5.
In the case of an analysis of one or more markets, the paper must contain a minimum of 4 bibliographic references, 2 of which published in scientific journals.
In the case of literature analysis, the paper must contain a minimum of 8 bibliographic references, including 6 scientific articles.
- Honors are awarded to those students who fully comply with the requirements. Furthermore, they must demonstrate a systematic knowledge of the subject, an excellent ability to apply the acquired knowledge, independent judgment and particular attention in the formal drafting of the document.
The paper will be delivered by e-mail at least 10 days before the appeal. Students will be able, at any time before the 10-day deadline, to send drafts of the paper to receive suggestions from the teacher.
- The final grade, communicated after the written test directly in Esse3, will correspond to the evaluation of the paper in terms of completeness, clarity, problem detected, methods and depth of analysis, quality and breadth of conclusions, compliance with the minimum rules in terms of bibliographic references, originality, breadth of the literature used.
Other information
The activities will take place on-line through the use of the Teams and Elly platforms. Furthermore, lessons will be recorded. Thus, lessons can be held in both on-line and recorderd modes (Teams/uploaded on the Elly page of the course).
In case of live lessons, the professor’s presentation will alternate interactive moments with the students. To promote active participation in the course, various individual and small group activities will be proposed, through the use of the resources available in Elly, such as discussion forums and logbooks.
