SIMULATING THE IMPACTS OF CONTRACT SUPPLIES IN A SPOT MARKET-CONTRACT MARKET EQUILIBRIUM SETTING

This paper embeds a principal-agent model of producer-processor equilibrium within a market equilibrium model of contract and cash markets to analyze the impact of contracting on the spot market for hogs. The principal-agent model incorporates both quality differentiation in the contract market and an endogenously determined cash market price to account for processor-producer relationships in equilibrium. For five types of contracting scenarios, market equilibrium conditions are derived, and results are presented for a numerical example. Contrary to previous results, the paper finds that the increased supply of hogs under typical formula-price contracts can increase the cash market price and reduce its variance.