Integração espacial de mercados na presença de custos de transação: um estudo para o mercado de boi gordo em Minas Gerais e São Paulo

The analysis of market integration of agricultural commodities basedon price information are limited because the effects of transaction costs are notconsidered in the adjustment process. The main objective of this paper was toestimate the possible transaction costs impacts on market integration of beef cattlebetween the states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. It was estimated a ThresholdVector Error Correction Model (TVEC model) using monthly price data for theperiod from January 1972 to August 2005. The results indicated the presence ofthreshold cointegration implying that transaction costs have important effect onthe price adjustment process.