As one of the most significant components of financial technology (FinTech), blockchain technology arouses the interests of numerous investors in China, and the number of companies engaged in this field rises rapidly. The emotion of investors has an effect on stock returns, which is a hot topic in behavioral finance. Blockchain is an essential part of FinTech, and with the fast development of this technology, investors’ sentiment varies as well. The online information that directly reflects investors’ mood could be utilized for mining and quantifying to construct a sentiment index. For a better understanding of how well some factors adequately explain the return of stocks related to blockchain companies in the Chinese stock market, the Fama-French three-factor model (FFTFM) will be introduced in this paper. Furthermore, sentiment could be a new independent variable to enhance the explanatory power of the FFTFM. A comparison between those two models reveals that the sentiment factor could raise the explanatory power. The results also indicate that the Chinses blockchain industry does not own the size effect and book-to-market effect.
Governments and public health officials are urging the public to eat more fruits and vegetables to contribute to a healthy diet. However, there is concern that a lack of effective competition amongst supermarket retailers has resulted in inflated prices for these products which are deterring consumers from eating more of these healthy foods. We investigate this by examining the nature and extent of price competition for fresh fruits and vegetables amongst UK supermarket retailers, drawing on a panel of weekly retail and corresponding wholesale market prices over a seven‐year period. We find that the extent of supermarket competition varies across the products, being quite intense on some but much weaker on others, where the retailers do not fully respond to each other's prices and where the extent of their competitive interaction varies significantly with each other.
Oligopoly can give rise to complex patterns of price interaction and adjustment. While oligopolistic firms may divide into price leaders and price followers, it is conceivable that some may take on dual roles, being a leader to one group but a follower to a different group in a hierarchical structure. The contribution of this article is to show how such dual relationships are possible in theory along with providing an empirical method to help identify price-leadership structures in n-firm oligopoly. As an illustration, we apply the method to British supermarkets and find a three-tier leader–follower structure.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate market power in the Chinese pork supply chain. The authors aim to explain why a steady rise in prices is observed in the sector, apart from existing evidence on incomplete/asymmetric cost pass-through and concerns of growing concentration and consolidation in the sector. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a new empirical industrial organization model for both oligopoly and oligopsony power to measure the degree of market power exerted on consumers and hog farmers simultaneously. Findings By examining annual panel data across provinces in China, the authors find that both oligopoly and oligopsony powers exist in the pork supply chain. In particular, the authors determine that a higher degree of market power is found to influence prices paid to hog farmers than prices paid by pork consumers. Estimates of key elasticities in the Chinese pork supply chain are also updated based on the structural model estimation and the latest data. Research limitations/implications Due to the lack of data at a more granular level of geography, the authors are only able to estimate market power by three major economic regions. Practical implications The findings provide useful information for future policy analyses of Chinese food markets. First, the pork-packing industry should be of great concern in terms of market power and its influence on consumers’ and farmers’ welfare. It is essential to take into consideration market power in the pork supply chain before making any public policy regarding the pork market. Furthermore, following economic theory and experience from developed countries, large meat packers will eventually vertically control hog farmers given their stronger oligopsony power over the upstream. Vertical integration may be the next important issue in terms of food market competition. Finally, the results may also draw the government’s attention to investigating market competition in all major food markets. Originality/value The empirical evidence draws attention to the issue of food market competition in one of the largest and most important meat-packing markets in China. The authors hope to encourage further discussions on pork and hog market regulations and related public policies.
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