Agricultural Product Prices - 5th Edition by William G Tomek & Harry M Kaiser (Hardcover)

About the Book

Now in its fifth edition, this book reviews and adapts microeconomic principles to the characteristics of agricultural commodity markets and then apply these principles to the various dimensions of price behavior.

Book Synopsis

Published continuously since 1972, Agricultural Product Prices has become the standard textbook and reference work for students in agricultural and applied economics, buyers and sellers of commodities, and policymakers, clearly explaining conceptual and empirical models applicable to agricultural product markets. The new fifth edition uses up-to-date information and models to explain the behavior of agricultural product prices. Topics include price differences over market levels (marketing margins), price differences over space (regionally and internationally) and by quality attributes, and price variability with the passage of time (seasonal and cyclical variations, trends, and random behavior).

William G. Tomek and Harry M. Kaiser review and adapt microeconomic principles to the characteristics of agricultural commodity markets and then apply these principles to the various dimensions of price behavior. They also provide an in-depth discussion of prices established for futures contracts and their relationship to cash (spot) market prices; cover the influential roles of price discovery institutions, such as auctions and negotiated contracts, and government policies regulating trade and farms; and discuss the specification, use, and evaluation of empirical models of agricultural prices, placing emphasis on the challenges of doing high-quality, useful analyses and interpreting results.

Review Quotes

As a comprehensive reference on agricultural price behaviour at an intermediate level, the book is a worthwhile resource. It is well written and clearly considers and clarifies the principles required to understand the operation of open-agricultural product markets. I recommend this book to students and practitioners alike.

In its introduction, the book promises to provide an understanding of the complex arrays of forces that determine the level and behavior of prices and to assist students in bridging theories and empirical analysis on price behavior. It can undoubtedly be said that both promises have been realized in the book...The book's intuitive approach to explaining economic concepts makes it appealing for a wider audience in addition to graduate and undergraduate students. In light of the rise in the volatility of global food and agricultural products since 2007/2008, non-economists wishing to understand the basic mechanics of food price behavior could be interested in reading the book.

The book is aimed at an intermediate level course in agricultural prices and marketing. This is one of the best books in agricultural prices available at this level.

About the Author

William G. Tomek is Professor Emeritus of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. Harry M. Kaiser is the Gellert Family Professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. He is the coauthor of Mathematical Programming Models for Agricultural, Environmental and Resource Economics and coeditor most recently of New Empirical Industrial Organization and the Food System.